


From Beyond The Stars

by JulesAndMore



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fish out of water Pearl, Gem Pearl, Human Garnet, Pearl has to learn the language, stranded on earth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 49,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5199482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulesAndMore/pseuds/JulesAndMore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crashed space ship strands Pearl on earth and throws her straight into the life of small town police officer Garnet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

        Alarms blared and lights flashed red, freezing the gem on the spot. She was hit and was losing altitude fast. What was she supposed to do. She was a great pilot but how was she supposed to fix this when she couldn't think over the alarms, this had to be some sort of design flaw!

"Shit I'm already at terminal velocity, but I can fix this." Her nibble fingers rapidly pressed button, face twisting in desperation. Nothing was working, but she was too close to give up.

* emergency ejection activated* a strap from the pilot chair constricted around her, holding her safely.

"No! I didn't press that, I can still fix it!" She tried to twist free. The robotic voice mocking her.

*thank you for flying Space Diamond, have a lovely wreckage* the chair was propelled skywards by thrusters under the seat, rocketing her out of the burning craft. She was jerked as a parachute released, slowing her decent. The last she saw of her ship it was crashing into the ground, taking a large amount of trees with it.

\------------------------------------------

"Garnet honey, don't you have work today." Garnet wrapped her tiny mum up in a tight hug, careful to avoid the rapidly chopping knife. The kitchen was small but filled their needs plenty, though nothing was stored above the second shelf in any of the cabinets. Usually her ma would do the cooking, being rather skilled at it, but her mum managed.

" 'm on call, ma has things handled for now. I'm getting us lunch." She released her mom to rummage through the fridge, grabbing sliced meats and mustard.

"Whatcha making?" The shorter women pulled her silver hair back, and gestured to a pile of pealed pearl onions.

"Stake and ale pie"

"Sounds awes" *Come in Officer Garnet*  
Her radio crackled as it came to life, cheap equipment but got the job done. She picked up the radio to reply.

*" what is it Officer Ruby, I'm getting us lunch."* Dryly responding to her ma, who often played with the equipment. Beach city was a rather small, every one knew every one. Not much went on, well there was that Onion kid but he was harmless.

*This is serious. There's a downed personal air craft just to the west. I need you to go.*

*"How? We don't even have an air field"* her mum was listening intently from the corner of her eyes, curious for any new gossip.

*Thats your job to find out. Fire trucks and ambulances are on there way, I need you too manage the site.*

*"I'm on my way."* she shoved her lunch in a bag to bring with her, her ma was on her own for lunch. But if this runs too long she'll need help.

"Mum can you" she didn't even get to finish.

" I'll pick Steven up after school." She always was intuitive. She kissed her mums cheek and rushed to her car, it wasn't often she got to use her sirens.  
\------------------------------------------

She ran. Her ship was un salvageable, and the humans were getting closer. There primitive vehicles flashed and roared, a clear sign of aggression. She kept in the shadows, pushing her exhausted body to its limits. She needed a plan. Outside of the wooded landscape was fields of large golden stalks, raising well above her head. She ducked down when a large red vehicle came screeching down the road, she trembled with the effort.

Her hands met the damp soil when her legs failed her, soaking into her blue jump suit. She crawled until she couldn't see pass the tall stalks, trying to hide the best she could at the moment. She curled up on the soil, losing conciseness as the sirens faded down the road.

\------------------------------------------

It was easy enough to find the sight, the gaping hole in the tree line was all she needed. The scene was a mess, fire fighters trying to prevent the red hot craft from burning dried leaves and ambulances digging through wreckage for any survivors. The craft was twisted, looking more like a saucer then an air plane. Pieces of electronics spread a good mile a way from initial impact.

"Good evening officer Garnet!" The Mayor sweat nervously, dabbing at his fore head with a napkin, spreading the greasy mess onto his sleeves.

"Howdy." She stood with her arms akimbo, staring the man down for an explanation. When none was forthcoming she readjusted her shades, looking around I till the mayor could form a sentence.

"Any idea what happened?"

"I tried calling air traffic control but they said no planes were in the area, probably a small hobby builder getting to zealous." She crouched down to dig through the hot metal, pushing the steaming metal around with her bare hands. The mayor took a step back and gulped. It was all torn to bits only thing out of place was shards of coloured glass and no pilot.

It was 9-pm by the time they were finished, no black box was found. The mayors son and his friends scoured the woods for any clues, but judging by the smell of smoke on them, they were up to more then searching. Normally it would be her job to bust them on such things, but they were Steven's friends and it was hard to stay angry at people who treated her adoptive son well. Plus arresting the mayors son, In front of him may not be the best plan.

She drove home in silence, windows down to enjoy the summer breeze. Steven would be asleep when she got home. He was the son of Greg, a good guy, just unable to care for a kid him self when his girlfriend died in child birth. She liked having Steven around, he was so full of love. He often pulled her into dress up parties and playing hero, always happy for her company. Plus it meant the world to Greg, to know his son was being taken care off and have the opportunity to be involved.

"What the hell!"

Tiers screeched as Garnet pulled to the side of the road, avoiding a convoy of large black trucks and cars coming straight at her. The windows were too tinted to see in as they passed, no marking any were to be seen.  
They took up the whole road way. Garnet fiddled with her radio to pass the time, needing a little pick up tune. A smooth hum filled the cab of her truck calming in nature, but that wasn't her radio she looked around for the source from the road to the field beside her.

Then she noticed a feint blue glow peaking out from between the rows of plants. When the convoy passed and was well down the road, she popped out of her truck with a flash light. She made sure no one was looking as she moved through the fields, getting closer to the source of the light. What she found, oddly enough was a woman covered in dirt and soot. She was tall and pale with peach coloured hair, a pearlescent bump on her fore head resembling a growing horn. The bump projected a blue light, incomprehensible shapes ran over the wheat stalks.

"Are you ok?" She called out apprehensively before approaching, seeing if she would move one her own. The women's clothing was dirty and burned, soaking up the moisture from the soil she slept in. She was cold to the touch, but moaned as she was turned into her back. She hoisted the slumbering girl into her arms, surprised at the lack of weight. It was like like lifting a pillow. She brought the strange woman back to her truck and buckled her in the passenger seat, not willing to leave her vulnerable in the open.

 

\------------------------------------------

 

She really should have brought her to the hospital, she new that well. But that was the next town over, she wanted to get home. The lights were on in the living room when she pulled up, meaning her moms had stayed over. She stepped quietly, Steven should be sleeping. She placed the odd girl on the couch, converting her with a blanket, she was no longer glowing at lest. The microwave dinged in the kitchen.

"Made some dinner for you."

Her stomach grumbled in dissatisfaction at the smell of hot food, her mum carried in a plate of stake and ale pie from the kitchen. Sapphire sat on the love seat with Ruby, both tired but interested in her new guest. Garnet dug into the food, to hungry to deal with more then one thing at a time.

"Is this the pilot?" Ruby ignored her daughters hump in response.

"Why is she here and not the hospital?" Sapphire leaned back into her wife, letting her daughter finish eating.

Garnet licked the remaining gravy off her fork, before putting the plate down on the coffee table.

"She's not bleeding or anything 'n didn't want to drive to the next town." Garnet slurred out as she leaned back into her arm chair, letting her eyes rest, just for a moment. Sapphire decided to leave things well enough alone at the moment when Garnet started to snore lightly, pulling her wife with her to the spare room.

\------------------------------------------

Pearl cringed as light hit her eyelids, curling her head under a soft blanket. She grumbled out a protest when an insistent hand shook her shoulder, peaking out with one eyes. She winced, not prepared for the bright early morning light in her sensitive eyes.

"Hi"

She sat up, focusing on the source of the sound. It was a smiling human, it's short structure, if she remembers correctly meant it was a juvenile. She jumped, landing behind the couch, keeping as much space as she could between them.

"Hey, hey no need to be afraid. I'm Steven! And that's my mom. We won't hurt you." The small thing held its hands up, perhaps trying to look large. It pointed to the other human on a singular seat, tall and dark with curly hair. Pearl scanned her surroundings, needing a way to escape. The door out was blocked by the juvenile human, going deeper into the dwelling was risking getting trapped.

"Stop that!"

The larger human got up from there seat, irritating rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She shrunk a little under the authoritative gaze.

"Morning Garnet!" The little human wrapped its arms around around the larger one, cubby fingers barely able to touch from around her waist. Steven's eyes shined like star light.

"Hey little man, is that beacon I smell."

"Yeah and grape fruit juice and eggs and toast!"

"Awesome. Why don't you wake up your grandmas?" The child enthusiastically nodded, feat thundering as he ran up the stairs.

"He's a good kid, just excited. How'd you sleep?" Garnet left the door free as she sat down, loosening the buttons of her stuffy uniform. Pearl lowered her self to the couch again, calming down slightly when the human took a lower position. The humans mouth kept moving but she had no clue what was being said, but the tall human had a deep soothing voice. The dwelling seemed clean, with the exception of a few bright object on the floor.

"Can you speak." She was leaning forward expectantly, trying to coax her into talking. The entrance of two more humans interrupted.

"Morning Honey." Sapphire was in some oversized pjs, already wide awake. Ruby was dragged down the stairs by her grandson, hair all over the place only half awake.

Pearl fallowed the humans to a long table, sitting down when the smallest human pulled out a chair and patted it, smiling at her. Every one smiled as a plate was placed down in front of them, the show of teeth was fallowed by laughter, probably a positive thing then. She kept still when a plate and mug was placed in front of her by a silver haired women.

"I don't know what you drink, so I got you tea." The small women placed the steaming mug I front of her. The plate contained cooked animal from what Pearl could tell, fallowing the the others at the table she took a bite of the beacon. Garnet watched her face screw up at the taste, she chewed and swallowed the bit, not wanting to anger her current company. She shivered as the slimy mass pushed down her throat, the sensation was awful! She let out a disgruntled chirp, surprising the others.

"Here, you don't have to eat if you don't feel well. Try this." Garnet pushed the tea cup closer, encouraging her with a warm smile. She smelled the tea, eyeing the contents with suspicion. Carefully she took a sip, tasting the warm liquid. She allowed it to slip down her throat, finding she quite like the bloom of warmth that formed inside. Pearl sat back in her chair, sipping her tea and watching the interactions. The two smaller ladies smiled and brushed up against each other, suggesting they were possibly a breeding pair. Conversation flowed amongst the humans with ease, laughing and joking about what Pearl will never know.

When they finished eating the plates were cleared, placed in the washer and they left for the upper floor. Garnet took her hand with her own warm ones, leading her up the stairs and into her room.

" I don't have anything in your size but I think we can work some thing out." The door behind them with an audible click. It's a trap! They lulled her into a false sense of security. Pearl pressed her back to the wall, tensing up, readying to defend herself. The human with her back to her dug through some draws, she pulled off her own stiff shirt before slipping on a looser one. She pulled out a larger shirt and approached Pearl, holding the garment up to her and clicking her tongue.

"This should do. I'll leave you to it."  
Garnet left her with the top and some tight leggings. Oh, she wanted her to change. Was this a common thing for the humans, making new people ware the group's clothing? She could just use her gem but decided against it, blending with the populace would be to her advantage. She phased away her jump suit and pulling the white dress shirt over her head, it fell just above her knees and the arms went well past her hands, the maroon leggings had to be roiled up her legs a tad.

Pearl looked around the room for anything that could used to send out for help, the electronic clock could be of some help. There was very little tech in the room out side a tv, and a strange hand held device that vibrated when she touched a button. She put everything back and gingerly creeped down the stairs, listening for any movements from the humans.

"Awww she looks so cute!" The young boy bounced around her, looking her up and down, Pearl smiled back mimicking the boy the best she could. She didn't flinch when he grabbed her sleeves, rolling them up above her elbow.

"It's still missing something." He closed one eye and held his hands up, framing her, sticking his tongue out as he worked. Garnet smiled into a cup of coffee, skin wet from showering. She enjoyed watching her little man work, and seeing the tall women interact with him. She was leaning down to look Steven in the eyes and smiled.

"I think I got something." Sapphire came down with Ruby, getting ready to head home. She pulled a brown belt off of her tight jeans clad hips and handed it to the boy. The boy was soft and warm, wrapped his thick arms around her midsection to attache the belt.

"That's it!" He proudly showed her to the rest of the room, much to the approval of his family. Ruby pulled the him into a playful head lock, ruffling his thick hair. Sapphire kissed his head before moving to say goodbye to their daughter, pulling Garnet into a tight hug.

"We're heading home for now" Sapphire patted Pearl's arm. "It was nice to meet you."

"Bye guys," Ruby playfully punched Pearl's other arm, causing her to cringe and squawk.

"Have a good day." Steven cheers happily.


	2. Chapter 2

         Having the girl around turned out not to be an issue to Garnet. Pearl, as Steven called her for the gem on her forehead was alright. She cleaned up after herself and others, and got along well with Steven. It was common to find Pearl and Steven watching tv when she got home, she would mimic sounds on the tv though mostly chirped still. On the rare occasion she tried to talk she sang, a beautiful clear song she wished she could record. Two weeks in and not a problem yet.

"You're home!" Steven was curled into Pearl's side on the couch while watching tv, pointing out specific parts on his show to his new friend. Pearl's bright smile made her own lips twitch into a small one.

"How was your day?" She sat beside Steven, loosening her uniform by undoing the top few buttons and kicking her legs up on the coffee table. They were watching a documentary on sword smithing, drawings on the table seemed to be Steven's plans for building his own forge. The lightning bolts were a nice touch.

"Good, Grandma let Pearl take apart some radios and we got doughnuts."

They spent most of the night on that couch.

\------------------------------------------

Pearl work with quiet precision, fingers assembling and disassembling. Torn apart radios, phones and microwaves usually stored in her gem, laid across the floor, in an organized mess. She was careful not to take anything still in use, luckily humans threw away a lot of useful items l. She needed a signal to let her comrades know she was alive, Pink Diamond would return for her. She never left her behind before, they must be waiting.

"Fuck!"

She kicked a phone across the room. No matter what tooled she had, she still couldn't boost the signal enough. She threw herself on the spare bed dramatically, still surprised they had gave her, her own room. Slowly she started to understand some of their key words but their tech was way behind, barely resembling anything she knew.

A knock at the door pulled her from her frustration. She placed most of her goods back in her gem, hiding away her toil and calling the woman in.

"Hey." Garnet wore a leather jacket and tight jeans, emphasizing her ass more then Pearl would admit. She held a jacket out for Pearl.

"I know it's late but wanna take a look around the city with me?" Pearl seeing the coat followed by an out stretched hand got the sense she wanted to be fallowed. The leather jacket was too large, but that only made it comfy. Garnet held out her arm and led them out into the night.

\------------------------------------------

The city was quiet this time of night, the only car on the street was driven by the cool kids. Shops lining the board walk were shut up tight. Garnet laced their fingers together as the walked, brushing up against her side. Pearl kept her eyes to the star scattered skies. She tingled were Garnet touched her.

The beach was beautiful up close, a birds eye view didn't do it justice. It smelled lovely and the sound of breaking waves was all consuming. She broke off from Garnet and removed her shoes, moving to stand in the water. Her head tilted back to allow the summer breeze to caress her face and neck.

Garnet stood entranced at a distance, tracing the girls out line with her eyes. The flush crawling up her neck was invisible in the low light. Pearl started to twirl and frolic in the water, before turning to the tall girl, face lite up with a joyful smile. She reached her pale hand out, held upwards in offering.

Garnet didn't hesitate to join her. They dances along the beach, moving as one. Pearl wrapped her arms around Garnet's strong neck and pressed her chest close, looking up with large content eyes. Garnet placed her hands on a dainty waist pulling her from small fast steps to strong spins. Garnet laughed as they moved lost in their dance. She was surprised at a deep rumbling on her chest, taking only a moment to relies Pearl was purring. She stopped being surprised by Pearl a while ago, now she just felt pride at instigating such a reaction. They danced long into the night, losing track of the movement of the moon as it tracked across the sky.

They slowed their dance when the head light from a car hit them, but kept close. Garnet knew the truck well. The trucks wheels spun under it, having trouble gripping the sand. Mr. Universe blazed across the side left no question as to who owns it. It honked as it got closer and rolled down its window, pulled up to the pair.

"Hey Garnet, who's your friend?"

"Hi Greg. This is Pearl, I'm showing her the city."

"So this is the friend Stevens been on about, nice to meet you." Pearl moved away from the out stretched hand, unsure how to respond to the large hairy man. But he just laughed good maturely and with drew his hand.

"Sorry, Steven said you were shy."

"Just enjoying a night drive?" Pearl fiddled with Garnet's large hands from behind tall woman, listen as best as she could to the conversation. She understood car.

"Just a busy day at the car was, man you should have seen some of the cars that came in, pitch black and covered in mud. Never seen so many in one place before, I think there's a convention in town or somethings." He spoke with his hands, reminding Pearl of Steven in some ways. "Any ways do you think Steven will want to spend the weekend with his old man?"

His smiled sheepishly at Garnet, fiddling with the steering wheel.

" you'll have to ask Steven but I'm sure he's down." Greg gave an overtly dramatized sigh in relief.

"Good to know spending time with dad is still cool. Do you guys need a lift home?" Garnet looked at Pearl for a moment before deciding.

"We're good, it's a lovely night anyways."

"Stay safe then. Nice to meet you Pearl." Pearl waved goodbye as he left, hearing a blast of heavy metal before the window rolled up completely.

They didn't hold hand on the way home, every jolt caused by their fingers brushing was ignored.

\------------------------------------------

Garnet was sure by this point that Pearl knew some basics of English, or at least their names, but refused to communicate in more then chirps and songs. She caught her going threw some of Steven's old books and sound out the letters, her gem projecting images of the words in the air. It was probably foolish to keep the clearly inhuman girl around, but she couldn't bring herself to kick her out.  
Cute alien girls was not conducive to paper work. Who could have guessed that Science fiction writers were on to something with humanoid life forms.

*ring... Ring ring* the phone on her desk gave her convenient out from police budgeting.

"Beach city police station." she was doodling space ships on her paper work now, but the mayor wouldn't mind.

"* Yes this is agent Peridot, I heard you were part of an investigation on a downed air craft not long ago. We need you to send over all of your files from that night*" this agent had a nasally voice, that just rubbed her the wrong way.

"And just what agency do you work for." Garnet kept her voice monotone, referring to put energy on this.

"* I'll have you know that's top secret information.*" her boastful tone made it difficult not to just slam the phone down, shutting her up.

"Well I can't share that information without a warrant." She hung up with a bang, probably a conspiracy theorists like the Ronaldo. He had Steven on about snake people for a while. The phone started up again, she had to pick it up.

"Hel-"

"* you can't hang up on a federal agent!*"

" I guess I did. But you phone me without identifying your self properly and demand information. Is this really the first time you've been hung up on?" She was incredulous, this sounded like child on the line.

"*I can seize the information I'll have you know! Interrupting an investigation is illegal.*"

"Come in and talk to me face to face and bring your paperwork, until then good bye." She needed to get home.

\------------------------------------------

Gems don't sweat or do really anything a human needs to survive. She heard grunts coming from down in the basement and her curiosity got the better of her, with Steven spending time with that hairy man from earlier, that meant it was probably Garnet. She wasn't sure what she expected, but this wasn't it. Garnet stood in tight shorts and a tank top, sweat glistening on her muscular form. She grunted as she punched a large bag hanging from the rafters, the sounds were animalistic to Pearl's ears.

Garnet made no move to acknowledge the gem, instead working harder for her audience. She looked like she was carved by a master arts, Pearl found her eyes tracing over hard muscles hungrily taking in the sight. Her movements were strong and sure, any quartz on home world would be envious. Pearl's face flushed bright blue at the sight, warming her skin. A pulse from between her legs jolted her from her admiration. She bolted back up stairs to work on her transmitter, reminded that she had to leave.

She worked for hour losing herself in her tinkering. She had some old cell phones and with a bit of work they would be useful, but she needed to boast the signal. She welded and wired the bits together, getting closer and closer to her goal but still tauntingly far. She had know idea if she even made a signal if Pink Diamond could read it and know it's her, why haven't they checked for her? Tears burned at her eyes, blurring her work from view. Her hands were shaking to much to make attach a wire, prompting a frustrated sob from the gem.

She laid down on the floor, curling up on herself. A little lost Pearl was not worth Pink's time. Her entire body shook, as a sob forced its way pass her lips. Did Amethyst miss her? Maybe they were glad she never returned, laughing about it right now. Just a useless Pearl clinging to their sides, dragging them down by mere association. She sobbed in till she felt like nothing more then an empty husk.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a large hand. Garnet, now freshly showered held out a steaming mug. She sat up a little to see it was full of tea, the mugs were placed on the bed side table. The human lifted her from the floor, strong arms lifting her in a bridle hold, seemingly effortless. Garnet sat on the bed with Pearl on her lap, running her hand in circles down net back, not even mentioning her prototype signaller on the floor just sitting together quietly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just a reminder that English is a very foreign language to Pearl but she is trying her hardest.

"No, not like that. When I say we, I'm referring to both me and Steven, the correct term for you singular would be I." Pearl sat in the living room with Steven and his friend Connie, together they were determined to teach Pearl English. It was a needlessly complex tongue, borrowing from many other languages and often contradicting its own rules. Steven had procured a rolling chalkboard from Garnet's home office and Connie brought books. It was a gruellingly slow process, often frustrating the gem but slowly things started to make sense. She could understand and mange short simple sentence but not all with correct grammar.

"I from away." She ways trying to tell the kids about herself but kept getting tripped up. Her mouth moved in uncomfortable ways as she tried the foreign sounds for herself. She knew the sentence was incorrect, it didn't role of her tongue.

"Very good! But maybe you mean I 'am' from far away or I 'come from' far away." Connie praised her, genuinely happy of the improvement.

Pearl chirped and puffed up proudly at the praise.

Connie started drawing on the chalk board, squiggly likes soon took the shape of a map. The young girl made two x's, showing two locations.

"I live overs there." She pointed to the first x. "And Steven lives right here." She pointed to the second location.

"Do you live here or do you live there?" Connie crossed her arms and waited, leaning forward in her excitement.

"Here?" It was more of a question then any thing. Did she live here now, was that even what was being asked? She didn't even notice the two kids move on to the next topic. They both looked at her, waiting for an answer to a question she didn't hear. She needed a distraction.

She projected an image of space from her gem, watching the awe on the kids face from such a simple trick. She zoomed in on her own planetary systems, allowing the kids to see 4 different stars spinning around together. Her kind populated many of the planet in the system, some even beyond, not that they needed to know that.

"There." She hoped they understood.

\------------------------------------------

The mayor was pacing around the station when she got there, face redder then usual, maybe he had a fever. Her ma chewed on the cap of a pen, chomping down harder as the mayor nattered. Ruby perked up at the two paper coffee cups her daughter held, both found it hard to function without. This was just breakfast coffee.

"Oh good morning officer Garnet, thank you!" Ruby's face fell when Dewey snatched up one of the cups.

"Morning, why are you here do early?" Garnet took pity on her ma, sliding the remaining cup over. Garnet crossed her arms casually leaned against her desk, hoping to get this over with. He ringed his hands and looked around the office, feet shifting endlessly.

"Well you see, I've had a complaint."

"What your issue?" Ruby looked away from her coffee, already having drained half.

"No. No, I don't have a problem, I think you're doing a bang up job!" He took an unconscious step bake holding his hands in defence.

Bang!

"Will you get to the point!" Ruby had slammed her fist on her desk, her face was red and a vain on her neck bulged. Her ma had little patience for politics.

"I got a call from the FBI!" He moved away from the small women, edging closer to the door.

"Agent Peridot had a complaint about officer Garnet withholding information." He readjusted his tie, tighten it just a little to tight. Garnet moved around her desk to sit, uninterested.

"I just told her to come in with her credentials if she wanted information, I'm not sending things out blindly." She logged onto her emails, scrolling down from the top. The mayor had yet to leave so they ignored him, it was to damn early.

" She was asking about that air plane crash." His voice was a nervous whisper, eyes looking around suspiciously. The two police officers raised their eye brows at him in unison.

"Asking about any remains that could have been picked from the sight."

"It's been over a month, what could they want?" Dewey left on that ominous note, leaving Garnet to her racing thoughts.

\------------------------------------------

Steven dragged Peal down the board walk by her hands, pulling her pass the curious citizens. They all new the young boy well, his kind and helpful nature making him well liked, but none of them had seen this stranger before. Pearl didn't like the crowds and smells but viewing humans up close was fascinating. They shoved large quantity of food in their mouths, more then they could possibly need and they held hands and laughed amongst themselves.

They made their way just out side of the board walk to a lone building, decorated with a large ring. The inside had several seats and tables, glass cases were along several walls. A lone human sat at a table, staring intently at laptop, two more lounged behind a counter adjoining a glass case.

"Hi Lars, hi Sadie, how ya doing Ronaldo?"  
The human at the table typed away while mumbling, not even acknowledging them.

"Hey Steven. The usual?" Sadie rested with her cheek in one hand, waving lazily with the tips of her fingers. Her tall companion bobbed his head to loud music, easily audible through his oversized headphones.

"Not today. I'm trying to find something Pearl will eat." Steven perused the contents of the case sticking his tongue out in thought.

"So your Steven's new friend. How are you?" The blonde girl studied her, looking at her from head to toe.

"Good" she avoided expanding, basic words like good, punctuated with a smile got her along quite well in many cases.

"How did you meet? Steven has told use you're staying with him, are you a friend of his mom?" Oh no, she was chatty. She asked multiple questions in a row, leaving out time to articulate a reply. Steven and Garnet did well with her gem powers, but showing more people would get unwanted attention.

"I" She started and stopped, trampling down the anxiety of being un prepared. "We meet... Steven small ago." By gem she hoped that was right, but the surprised blink and blank stare made her stomach drop.

"Oh, that's cool." Sadie sat up excitedly eyeing the girl. How was she to respond to this, she's too happy. Did I do well?

"I apologize if I'm over stepping here, but you're not from around here. Are you studying abroad?" Pearl was hopelessly lost at that sentence. Apparently she was standing on something around here, and what is abroad? She smiled and stood still hoping to be left alone. Steven at this point spilled a full cup of pop on the counter, the sticky contents splashed onto Lars' pants.

"Steven!" The taller human growled out the words, alarming Pearl who stood in front of the boy defensively. Steven grabbed Pearl's arm with sticky fingers, pulling her to sit in a chair.

"Sorry Lars. It was an accident!"

"Do you have any idea how much I payed for these?" Steven looked at the teens torn jeans noting multiple faded spots, like they had need sprayed by bleach.

"20 dollars?" He high balled the price, trying not to insult Lars

"20 dollars? I'll have you know these cost over a hundred." The teen proudly boosted. The rapid succession of emotions was strange.

"Huh, really?" Sadie snorted and laughed.

"Awe come on you guys. I'm trying to find something Pearl will eat." The youngest boy moaned, half putting a show.

"Have you tried asking her." Lars was already losing interest.

"I tried that. She just learning english and is't the best at it." Pearl having figured out the interaction between Steven and the teens was harmless, tried to sneak a peak at Ronaldo's computer screen. The large boy covered the majority of the screen but she could make out shapes, snakes rectangles and stars.

"Here!" Steven handed her a stick partially coated in a frozen syrup, covered in a plastic film.

"What?" She questioned, really asking what she was suppose to do with it.

"You lick it , like this." The boy licked at his own treat, melting a small portion of the frozen substance. Pearl tried herself, only to realize she had to remote wrapper. The boy laughed at her, reaching over to remove the plastic for Pearl.

"Here, try again." Pearl licked again, finding it was sweet. She stopped, unsure if she liked it or not. The boy looked so cress fallen, that she kept licking. At lest this had no chewing.

\------------------------------------------

Ruby and Sapphire crashed Garnet's house that weekend for a movie night. There was pizza, or greasy bread with sauce to Pearl and snacks. They bickered about what movie to watch, it was put to a majority vote. When no such feet could be meet, all eyes turned to Pearl for the deciding vote.

Pearl had no idea what this movie was about. Steven sat on the floor with his hand in a tub of popcorn with his two grandmas, Rudy stealing the majority of the buttery treat. Pearl sat next to Garnet on the couch, it seemed like a more comfortable position. Three characters in the movie pranced around the woods while singing, laughing playfully. Pearl leaned back into Garnet's side, not paying attention to anything but the singing.

It was slow for the next part, She fiddled with the couch cushions until the singing started again. This time when the music started, the whole room burst out in song, not everyone was on tune but their joy was overwhelming. Pearl was pulled closer to Garnet when the human wrapped her arm around her waist, trying to encourage her to join them. Pearl didn't know these songs, but she smiled and hummed in unity, raising her voice higher to match the wave of sound.

Garnet's thumb snuck under the hem of her shirt, searching for soft skin. It made contact with Pearl's hip, rubbing circles on the bare skin it found. The intimate act went unnoticed by the entrance Pearl. The rest of the movie continued on like that, singing, snacks and pizza. Every one focused of the big screen tv, all except Sapphire's perceptive eyes.

The sound of door bell ringing went ignored by the small family. But it persisted, loud knocking and ringing got to be to much to ignore. Garnet disentangled her self from the now purring gem, grabbing her baseball bat on the way. The movie was paused by her parents as she looked out the peep hole, looking for who the hell it could be. She saw a tall stranger in a black suit, long messy hair contrasting with the otherwise well put together outfit.

"Open up! We can see you're home."

She knew that voice. She unlocked the door with a click, when opening the door, she stood to keep the stranger from coming in. She stood face to chest with this stranger, overall unintimidated by her impressive mass.

"Officer Garnet. How lovely to finally meet face to face." The sarcastic voice came from below her, she ended her staring contest with the hulk of a woman. Curiously she found the voice coming from a short girl about the size of Steven, the haughty voice was spoken to her belly more then her face.

"Peridot?"

"That's agent Peridot!" The little agent stamped her feet angrily, bringing attention to the click her high heels mad on the patio. The tall officer had to fight the smirk from her face.

"Oh I'm sorry 'Agent Peridot' how can I help you." The taller agent gave a feral smile at the emphasized Agent from Garnet but had yet to interfere.

"You know why I'm here." The agent ground her teeth, clenching her entire body up in rage as she ground out her words.

"Yeah and I said to come down to my office, I don't keep work related files at home." She crossed her arms, refusing to be intimidated.

"We're looking for some missing components, and I think you may have some." The taller agent stepped forward, trying to push the police officer back into her house, not expecting her to stand her ground.

"Missing components to what?" She shouldn't have to deal with this shit on the weekend.

"From that air craft you investigated." The tall one was leaning over her, searching for any openings in her defence.

"Stop that Jasper! No need for violence just yet." Jasper didn't move, just sneered at the authoritative tone from her companion. She cracked her fingers, making Peridot wince at the unpleasant popping.

"Just know that every piece from that craft belongs to us. If we find out your holding out on use, well have to take things into our own hands." Garnet slammed the door in their faces, smiling when she hears a nasally voice scream.

\------------------------------------------

" you came to get lunch again?" Sapphire sat on the porch drinking tea when her daughter showed up, picking up lunch for both herself and Ruby.

"Yeah, you would think she could remember after all these years." Garnet smiled roundly at her mum, stopping to talk for a bit.

"Get some tea and come out to sit with me." Her daughter went in the house, allowing her mother to collect her thoughts. She needed to address this carefully, Garnet had to understand.

"What's got you so deep in thought?" Garnet sat down beside her mum, staring off to the beach. Something was clearly bugging her, well clearly to Garnet. She was a hard woman to read for most people.

"I need to know you're being careful."

"I know, those agents could be trouble."

"Yes them too, but you know what I mean Garnet." She turned to stare her daughter square in the eyes, sunglasses did nothing to inhibit her gaze. Cutting her off. "You need to be careful with Pearl, she's clearly not human." Garnet crossed her arms, refusing to look at the woman. She know damn well what her mum meant.

"She's been fine so far and gets along with Steven, she's not a threat."

"Stop avoiding the issue,I don't think she's a threat. But you need to stop treating her like a girlfriend. Cuddling on the couch, moon light walks on the beach." The taller girl slumped down in her chair and removed her sunglasses, allowing her mom to see the dark bags under her eyes. She shouldn't be surprised her mum noticed, nothing got pass her.

"I know." She spoke both quiet and defeated, barely whispering.

"It's just second nature, I don't think about it at the time." She looked away in embarrassment.

"You need to think about it, she's in a delicate situation. We don't know how much she understands humans and we don't know how much we really understand her, you need to be aware. I just want you to be careful." She rubbed her daughters arm, giving it a firm reassuring squeeze.


	4. Chapter 4

Pearl found her self free to explore the town alone now, none of the humans seemed unsettled by her presence. She mapped the lay out of the land mentally, keeping track of interesting land marks as she went. Some of the people who saw her walking with Steven, waved and smiled, enjoying their own days. With Garnet at work and Steven at Connie's, she didn't have much else to do. Well she could work on her signal, but she pushed it to the back of her gem. She hasn't even look at it in a week, it mocked her with every attempt.

She discreetly fallowed one child who was tethered to a small yapping animal. The animal was covered in hair and yipped at people passing by, dragging the child along. Steven showed her a picture of one of these things calling it a doge, or was that dog. It was barking at another small furry animal perched on a fence. It yawned, not interested in the dog. Instead it licked it's pink fur, a strange coloration for an earth mammal. She walked away from the scene, interest moving to some thing new. 

What caught her eye was the big glass room full of spinning rollers, passing along a car and spraying it with water. She watched the mechanical structure clean the car, trying to get a closer look at the mechanism.

"Hi Pearl." Greg approached her with a lop sided smile. He didn't try to shake her hand this time, remembering how she reacted earlier. 

"Hi." She kept her greeting as simple as possible. 

"Hey nice cat. Came to check out the car wash?" She jumped when she felt something bushy brush past her legs, it was that pink animal from earlier. It must just be hungry, I would leave in good time. She knew what a car was and what it was to wash. Greg lead her through the now empty wash chamber. Now that the car was through and the water had stopped, she could see the rollers had fabric rags attached to them. 

Greg talked animatedly about the building, pointing out different parts of the building and showing her the controls. It was a relief that he didn't seem to care for a reply, perfectly happy carrying on a one sided conversation. When they got though the tour they came across Greg's van, hood up and tools layed out.

"What is?" She gave the engine a brief look over, seeing that it couldn't possibly move under its own power in this state.

"Oh, just some engine problems. It just needs some of that good old elbow grease." It definitely needed more then grease, especially grease produced by the human body.

"Can I make work?" She already was looking deeper at the engine. Calculating what it needed to work.

"Sure you can take a look if you want." Pearl heard 'sure' and already had her head and arms in, the out side world fading from her narrow field of view.

\------------------------------------------

Pearl showed up home that night covered in grease, with a cat, driven by Greg. Garnet couldn't fight off the affectionate smile, that rose when Pearl beamed with such pride. 

"What happened to you guys?" Garnet brought them to sit on chairs in the kitchen, attempting to keep the house clean. 

"She fixed my truck, hasn't ran this well since I got it!" He graciously accepted a cup of coffee from Garnet, taking in the smell.

"That's good." The cat had stayed out side but stared at them through the window, but seemed content.

"Yeah! It doesn't even make that clunking noise when I go into third gear." The tall women sat down with them, sipping her own cup of black coffee.

"Glad to hear it, thanks for bringing her home." Pearl placed her pinkie finger in her own cup of coffee, unaffected from the burning temperature but put of by the smell.

"I almost didn't. If I was a mechanic, I could make a killing with her working for me." 

"If you were a master mechanic, people would drive away after seeing your truck." 

They sat around chatting until Greg had to pick Steven up from the Maheswarans, and Garnet had to get Pearl cleaned. 

She sat Pearl on the rim of the tub as she ran the bath, trying to keep things as grease free as possible. It was in her hair, face, arms and even legs.

"Take off your clothes."

It took Pearl a minute to process the command, but it stretched on for hours to Garnet. The gem was shameless about her nude body, removing the dirty closed and folded them neatly, placing them on the counter. Garnet looked away, instead focusing on filling the tub. She used her hand to check the temperature, making the necessary adjustments. She added bath salts to the water, letting it fill with steaming water.

"Get in." She pointed to the tub when Pearl paused.

Pearl slipped into the water with a moan, enjoying the warmth that seeped into her. The tall girl felt a flush rise up her face to her neck, listening to carnal sounds dripping off of Pearl. She shivered when a hand touched her cheek, she stared at Pearl with blown out pupils.

"Garnet, Okay?" She swallowed thickly, this was the first time Pearl used her name. She pushed the feeling down, along with her immediate guilt. Pearl was unaware about social taboos, and thought she was up set.

"I'm fine Pearl, let's get you clean."

Pearl started to rub of the grease with her own hands, rather then grabbing the soap. She wound up spreading the mess more then anything, chirping in displeasure at the substance. Garnet laughed at the chirp, recognizing the sound she often herd from the girl, just starting to understand the meaning. Thankfully for Garnet, Pearl seemed to know what to do once she was handed a bar of soap. 

Garnet left her to her own devices for a while to grab some towels. Now scrubbed clean Pearl enjoyed being immersed in the flowery smelling water. She slid down, allowing her head to sink under. She just floated in the water with her eyes closed, comfortably surrounded by warmth. It was a familiar sensation, reminiscent of her creation. The passage of time seemed to slow to a crawl. She opened her eyes when a hand tentatively touched her shoulder, finding Garnet staring at her in concern. 

\------------------------------------------

Humans wrapped them selves in blankets to trap in their own body heat, simple but effective. It didn't work so well for Pearl. She didn't produce her own body heat, but she didn't need to. After being cleaned she was dressed in large fluffy pyjamas and covered in heavy blankets, while Garnet made tea and coffee. The human was acting strange. Garnet watched her close but never made eye contact, or any physical contact.

"Here." Garnet handed her a cup of tea, her hands trembling slightly. She sat on an arm chair rather then beside Pearl. She hadn't noticed it before she saw Pearl in water, but know she could see it clear as day. Pearl seemed so human that she never thought about it, but she didn't breath. Her body didn't move to let air in, and she didn't seem to need to. 

"Thank." 

Okay it moved when she spoke, that was something. 

"Did you have a good day?" She hasn't tried to carry a conversation for a while, finding they both easily slipped into nonverbal forms of communication with each other. 

"I'm home!" Steven thundered into the house. Throwing his backpack on the ground for later and wrapping his mom in a big hug, before moving over to do the same for Pearl. 

"Hey Steven." The boy wormed his way into the blanket pile. The cat from earlier had followed him in, jumping up to curl up on Pearl's lap.

"When did we get a cat?" Steven reached out to pet the cat in awe, giggling when it started to purr.

"We didn't." The boy wasn't paying attention to her, both he and Pearl were busy with the small fluffy thing as it head butted Pearl's belly and snuggled closer. 

Garnet found herself sitting beside Pearl while they watched tv that night. Pearl leaned her head on her shoulder, and Garnet couldn't help smiling when she heard both the girl and the cat purr in unison. Garnet supposed she owned a cat now.

\------------------------------------------

Taking Pearl grocery shopping may not be the best idea, but people in town knew about her and it was good for her to get out. She had to go quite often, Steven was a growing boy and she needed cat food.

"This?" Pearl held up an sweet onion to Garnet.

"That's an onion." Pearl had been doing that since they got in the store, trying to put a name to everything she could. Not that Garnet minded.

"Brussels sprout." She named the next item before Pearl could grab it. She had every thing she needed in produce, any more and they would go bad before eating them. She placed her hand on the small of Pearl's back, pull her to the meat counter. Garnet slowed their approach when she saw the big buff women who was with Peridot before at the counter.

"Why would you cut all the fat off the roast?!" She banged her fist on the glass, shaking the entire display.

"I-l'm sorry ma'am. The last person to get some of that wanted it removed." The teenager behind the counter sweated nervously, looking around for his manager to bail him out.

"So what, cut it off of that section not the whole damn thing!" She leaned right over the counter. Garnet couldn't just let her act like she owned the damn place. She tucked Pearl behind her and stalked up, unwilling to put the alien to close to this women.

"Hey!" The teenager calmed a little seeing the police officer show up, he backed up slightly from the hulking form standing over him.

"Hello officer." Her smile was full of sharp jagged teeth, giving big her a wild untamed look about her. Garnet crossed her arms and cocked her hips, pressing closer.

"If you're causing problems around her, you will spend the night in a cell." It was more of a drunk tank then anything honestly, but it did the job.

"Heh, I'm sure you would try." Jaspers eyes flicked to Garnet's side in interest. Garnet didn't have to look, she could feel Pearl bruising up against her side. 

"Is this your backup?" Pearl copied Garnet posture, narrowing her eyes. Garnet really did not like the way Jasper looked at the gem on Pearl's forehead.

"Jasper, hurry up!" Peridot interrupted the tense stand off from across the store, completely uninterested in her partners behaviour. 

"Coming."


	5. Chapter 5

Garnet had a surprise for Steven and Pearl that weekend. She had talked to the Maheswarans before hand, and loaded her family into her truck. Steven didn't know where they were going but bounced in the back seat, knowing they were picking up Connie. Pearl who had yet to be out of beach city since her crash, was much more contained. 

"Garnet." Steven whined, hoping she would spill the beans.

"Don't worry 'bout it." She was taking them to a museum, yeah, not the most exciting place for most people but she wanted to show Pearl. She wanted to show her about the earth and people, show her more then could be seen from the sky. Connie was running out the door before she could even park the car, closely followed by her fretting mother.

"Connie! Come back here, you can't go without your scarf."

"Yes mom." The young girl took the scarf without complaint, rather then listen to her mother lecture. She slid in the truck to sit beside Steven and slammed the door, causing her mom to cringe in distaste.

"Hi miss Garnet, hi miss Pearl, hey Steven, thank you for inviting me."

"Hi Connie!" The seat belt was the only thing keeping Steven from bouncing through the roof, instead he wrapped Connie into a big hug before she could buckle her seat belt. Dr. Maheswaran looked through the open passenger window to check in with Garnet, only casting a brief look at Pearl.

"You have all my numbers?" 

"I do." They had been through this many times, but Garnet still had to bite back on a sarcastic remark. 

"Good. You'll have her home for dinner?"

"Of course." The doctor nodded, satisfied with the reply. Garnet always wanted to slam on the gas when leaving the doctor, but settled for revving the engine just a little to loud. Th two children talked happily with one another, every so often looking to her for answers.

"Oh! I know what we're doing." Connie spoke with entirely to much understanding, the cat was out of the bag once she pulled into she parking lot.

"Museum!" Garnet hoped Steven wouldn't grow to old to think this was cool. He's excitement had Pearl perking up in curiosity, looking around for what had the kids so worked up.

"Museum?" She echoed the young boy, sounding out the word slowly, as if it would magically make sense.

"Yeah, it's a place where you go to learn things." Connie who was a little calmer with her enthusiasm, tried her best to describe a museum.

"Place to learn. Is school?" Why did humans have so many names for the same thing? 

"It's not a school. It's like a record of things, but cooler." Steven had jumped from the truck as soon as it had stopped, know he bounced on his heels as she waited for the adults.

"Is cold?" Eye brows furrowed as she was led in by Garnet.

\------------------------------------------

Pearl still didn't understand what the humans were talking about until they entered the first exhibit, dinosaurs, which Steven absolutely loved. She paused in awe at a giant skeleton, suspended over head. It stood more then two stories tall and its head was huge and full of sabre shaped teeth, angled so visitors would feel like it was coming right at them. She took a step back to look at the Goliath of a beast more fully, bumping back into Garnet.

"Huh?" She looked to The larger women for an explanation, only being met with a playful smile rather then information.

"It's a tyrannosaurus." Connie pointed her to a placard full of writing and a picture of the beast with skin, that couldn't be correct. Somethings this large probably had more muscles, the picture looked like some one stretched skin over bone.

"They lived in the Cretaceous period over 66 million years ago and even if they don't like to talk about it, they had feathers." Connie had taken over the tour, reading everything to Pearl and adding bits of her own. Pearl was dragged to every dinosaur by the exuberant kids. Pearl was fond of the raptors, especially when Connie showed her a feathered recreation on Steven's cellphone.

They left the hall of giant lizards as The curator called it, or more accurately giant birds as Connie corrected. They headed to the ice age section next, though that left a hug gap in the time line. It was full of big hairy mammals, and talked about a time when most of the world was frozen. Pearl wondered over to a display featuring ancient humans hunting in packs, taking down a mammoth. 

"This is from well over 15,000 years ago. Humans use to live a lot differently then, then we do know in this part of the world." Garnet wrapped her arms around Pearl's shoulders, eager to tell her about human history.

"15,000 years." To a human that was a long time, but Pearl had met gems well over 20,000 and she herself was over 7,000. 

"Yeah, there was even other species on the human tree at that time." Pearl was pulled toward a new room, full of human history. It only showed short burst of human civilizations, the subject was much to vast for such a small space. Connie and Garnet told her about humans myth and legends, seen as fictitious to most humans now a days but Pearl had seen many of these figures and symbols too often to mistake it for anything but what they really were. Gems, or at lest human's trying their best to describe gems and gem technology. A large slab humans said are used for ceremonial purposes was a warp pad! If gems have been on earth before, there must be some tech left she could use.

Pearl had been unusually quiet since leaving the museum, Garnet was getting worried. They stopped by a burger joint for lunch, not that Connie's parents had to know that. She was scribbling on a place mat with a crayon, ignoring her mug of tea and the people she was with. Garnet couldn't make out any of the writings, only stopping herself from reaching out when the girl chirped under her breath. 

The kids were digging into their food while Garnet was just a little slower, actually tasting the food. She took a bite of her burger, savouring it.

"How are you enjoying the meal so far!" The waitress deciding to check in just as she had a mouth full.

"It's very good." Steven bought her a little time to quickly chew and swallow.

"Do you need anything else?" 

"We're fine." The waitress finally left them in peace. Pearl smiled in smug triumph after writing down the last line, looking towards the humans then sulking when she realized they didn't understand what she was doing. Garnet smiled in encouragement, pushed the mug of tea closer to her. The rest of the day was spent shopping downtown before they had to drop Connie off.

\------------------------------------------

It was absolutely impossible!

She knew gems had been on earth, absolutely without a doubt. Earth was too large, she could find evidence but no actual sites. She needed to find them, even if it was old technology she could send a message and have them be able to read it. She had maps of the earth laid out, laying across her bed and the floor. Almost no reports she read about earth back home had mentioned contact with the natives, let alone where it could have happened. She could go out and look for her self, but it would take forever and it was unlikely one was in beach city.

The human text books were useless since she couldn't read them well enough yet. She had been up working on this for days, but she would perceiver. Steven was at her door, he had yet to knock though. 

"Mrow!" That cat was out their too, yowling for attention. She gave in with a sigh, a break wouldn't hurt.

"Oh, Hi Pearl offff!" Steven fell over in his attempt to act casual, only to be caught by Pearl's quick reflexes.

"Thanks Pearl." 

"Hello Steven." She smiled at the boy, feeling a little more refreshed just seeing him.

"Wanna see something cool?" He was suppose to be in school.

"Yes" like that the boy dragged her down the hallway to a room, that had always been closed since Pearl got here.

"Okay, I want you to meet some one." The room was a pail pink, furnished with a piano and a classical guitar. The boy seemed oddly hesitate about something, twirling his hands as Pearl looked around. It was warmer in here then the rest of the house and had multiple potted plants. But no one was in here but them.

"Meet who?" Steven crawled up on the piano bench, standing on it to reach a picture frame on top of the large string instrument. He held the frame tightly to his chest, then sat down, patting the bench for her to join him. The boy buried into her side when she tried to place a soothing hand on his back, staying like that for some time. 

"Her." He handed over the picture with shaking hands, allowing her to see the women. She was a large women with a warm smile, her curly pink hair was brown at the roots but that didn't take away from her beauty at all.

" This is my mom, I never meet her but Garnet and dad tell me stories. Her name is Rose." She had assumed Garnet was his mother but his eyes and curly hair undeniably belong to the women in the portrait. 

 

"She gone?" Oh no, the boy had water coming out of his eyes.

"Yeah." It came out in a suddering breath. He sniffles as he tried to take in more air. "She died." He was smiling even as he cried. "She passed away giving birth to me." She gathered the young boy up in her arms and did the one thing she could think of, she sang. The boy calmed down and moved away slightly. Instead of leaving he put his hands on the piano and started to play, matching closely to Pearl's singing.

They continued like that for at least 20 minutes. Every time she changed tones the boy was quick to fallow, soon the boy was laughing along. Steven pulled her from the pink room, leaving the door open behind them.

\------------------------------------------

"I didn't do any thing, this can't be legal!" 

"It is." Garnet placed a chubby teen in the back of her mom's police cruiser, carefully to keep the boy from bumping his head on the door frame.

"You can't keep the truth hidden, the people have a right to know!" She slammed the door behind him, thankful for the thick metal muffling his shouts.

"Thank you officer Garnet, I just don't know what got into that boy." The farmer wasn't actually mad, which was good, just confused to have found someone digging through his crops. It wasn't the first time Garnet dealt with a teen being reckless, but this one she dealt with more then the others.

"No problem sir, have a good day." She threw the teen's metal detector and other equipment in the trunk of the car. She nodded to the man politely before leaving. She ignore the boy's complaint from the back for as long as possible, before she pulled over on a deserted street and turning on him.

"Ronaldo!" The teen jumped at her bark, settling down some what. She sighed and rubbed her pounding head. 

"You can't go digging on someone's land without permission." It really was that fucking simple. She was going to confiscate his more expensive looking equipment, he'd get them back later. 

"But I'm soooo close."

" To what? I can assure you there was no snake peop-"

"Sneaple." She removed her sun glass when the boy corrected her, making director eye contact. She honestly didn't have a problem with him, but he got blinders on when it came to other people.

"Why would 'Sneaple' be in a corn field?." Her sarcasm seemed to slid right off the boy.

" They wouldn't." He crossed his arms in a huff, rolling his eyes.

"That what were you looking for?" 

"Polymorphic sentient rocks." His glasses flashed reflected light when he leaned forward. Garnet went back to driving, maybe she should talk to his dad again. 

"They came to earth before and they'll be back." His voice rose in conviction. He was pushed back into the seat by the acceleration of the vehicle as she pulled away from the curb.

"You can't turn a blind eye to the truth forever. I know I'm onto something and they know it too." The teen started to type something out on his cellphone, she probably should have taken that as well. He held it up to show her something on screen, not that she could see it in the rear view mirror while driving.

"They've been here since the UFO crash, they're watching." A shiver ran up Garnet's spine.


	6. Chapter 6

 

"Muuuum, I can dress my self." Garnet grumbled lightly, not really wanting to fight with her tiny mother, but still greatly displeased with the situation at hand.

"I know you capable, I just want you not to dress in your uniform for Beach City day, again." They had already been in ten stores, trying on dresses and blouses. They were nice, her mum wouldn't look at them otherwise. They walked up and down a strip mall just the next town over, where there was more stores and selection in clothing that wasn't tourists based. Her arms ached under the strain of multiple bags, while her mom seemed to have no problem with her own impressive haul. Her mom easily out paced her, showing no signs of slowing.

"What's wrong with the uniform?" Her feet throbbed as she saw an out door restaurant just ahead, a chance to rest her feet would be much appreciated.

"Nothing is wrong with it per se, it just would be nice to spend the evening with my wife and daughter instead of Officer Ruby and Officer Garnet." Oh god, her mom had led them right past the restaurant, but she stubbornly refused to show signs of tiring. The bags slipped down a little, making her have to readjust her hold.

"What if some one starts causing problems?" She was flooded with relief as she saw her mum's blue Audi up ahead, soon.

"Garnet, every one knows who you are, if some one cause a problem they won't care if you have a different pair of pants on." She screamed internally as her mom stopped to look in the window of a store. Garnet kept walking to the car, she had a set of keys and could at least lose the thirty pounds of bags. She was never more happy to see that car in her life, slumping a bit once she got the begs in. She shook her hands out to get the blood running back to her fingertips, they tingled unpleasantly. Now bag free she walked back to her mum, affectionately resting her arm on the petite women's head.

" By that logic, I can be just as off duty in my uniform. " she couldn't be sure what her mom found so interesting but she was looking in an old music store, admiring a display of electric guitars. The lacquered surface gave them a mirror finish, reflected their image back at them, distracting from the grungy interior of the store. Garnet grabbed some of her mum's shopping bags form her, but not as much as she carried before.

"True, but the right clothing can change your mind set." She had no idea if that was true or not, but didn't argue any further. Sapphire walked into the music store out of curiosity. They nodded politely to the middle age man behind the counter, who tuned a 12 string guitar. They moved past the flashier instruments meant to entice beginners, to a section of older instruments that had been there for a while, undesired or second hand. The smell of old instruments was familiar to Garnet, her mum loved to play what ever she could get her hands on.

"Are you looking for something in particular?" She spoke quietly, thankful the one worker seemed content to let them brows alone. A dainty hand glided over the curve of a clarinet, moving away quickly as it didn't feel right.

"Somethings new to teach Steven, he absorbs his lessons like a sponge." Sapphire passed over many items, knowing which where bad and which people just gave up on. She picked up on old violin and checked its shape.

"True, but maybe we should ask him what he likes."

"He will get sad about seeing so many unloved instruments." She stated it like it was a fact, now checking the bow of the violin for defects.

"Maybe he will, do you think he'll even like the violin?" The smaller women found rosin in the instrument case and applied it to the bow.

"He may or he may not, but I think he would like fiddling." The violin screeched as Sapphire pulled the bow across the instrument. The man working looked over but just smiled at them, going back to his own thing, which was apparently playing stairway to heaven. Sapphire kept working the bow, gradually the sound came down as she tuned it to the correct pitch. She nodded in satisfaction, pleaded with the sound it made.

_____________________________________________

The cat was a menace, seemingly fully intent on preventing any progression on her work. If she worked for more then a few hour the cat would be at the door yowling, she opened the door for the animal to hopefully appease it. Turns out having the cat in the room was worse. He would walk all over her papers, crunching them and pushing them out of place the lay down on her hands. The fluffy animal stared her dead in the eyes, perhaps fully aware of the nuisance he caused.

"Must you do that, you're a disturbance." The cat chirped at her, responding the her vocalizing in her home tongue over english. The cat rolled onto its back to present his belly, and pushing her maps onto the floor.

"Really?" She picked up the intrusive mammal and placed him on the floor, out of the way. She put her papers back in there places, wiping the fur deposited from the cat off with the back of her hand.  
Her nose scrunched up in disgust at the hair that clung to her hand.

"Meow!" The animal kneaded her legs with its front paws, tiny claws where no match for her physical projection. It weaved between her legs and butted its head against her shins.

"Mrow."

"Enough!" She scooped up the large fur ball, ignoring how it purrs and nuzzles into her chest. She made no sound as she stomped down the stairs, and marched to the front door. It was cute, but Pearl would never understand the human fascination with keeping animals in their homes, or selectively breeding them for such a inane purpose. She had seen the cat outside many times without supervision, usually sitting in the porch or around town. It would be fine outside as she worked.

She paused as she opened the front door, finding a hand balled up into a fist, poised to strike her right in the face. The hand before her shook in the air, gleaming with perspiration. It was attached to a man in an ill fitting suit. Was this man trying to threaten her with his raised hand? He didn't look like a threat as he looked about ready to bolt any moment, but his hand had yet to move. He just stood there staring at her with his mouth opened.

"Sorry miss!" He stood up straighter, adjusting the tie around his neck with his left hand and sweeping his balding head of hair back with his right. He tried to smile charmingly to her; his face turned a deep shade of red.

"I was just looking for Officer Garnet, is she home?" The cat jumped from Pearl's arms and padded back into the house, leaving her to figure out the strange human alone.

"No." She was going to close the door but the man placed his hand in the way.

"I wouldn't be bothering her in her day off if it wasn't important, surly she has time for the mayor." He placed his foot in the door way but made no attempt to enter. He spoke the word mayor with such pride, leaning forward into her space. She had no idea what the hell a mayor was, but Pearl would not let anyone enter this dwelling without permission.

"No here." He took a step back from the door and shifted his weight from foot to foot, opening his mouth a few times in an attempt to speak. Pearl would have slammed the door in frustration at the strange interaction if she hadn't hear the distinct roaring of Sapphire's engine just around the corner. They would know how to properly handle him.

"Miss?" The mayor went unheard as she brushed past him, making her way to the end of the drive way.  
_____________________________________________

Garnet just wanted something cold to drink and to watch tv with Pearl when she got home, but that didn't look like it would be happening. A smile tugged at her lips when she saw Pearl waiting at the end of the drive way, her heart skipped when the slightly women gave them a huge smile. She almost missed the campaign van parked on the street, almost. Ma was working today, there was no reason for the mayor to be bothering her.

"Garnet Sapphire!" Pearl brushed up against her in an affectionate greeting, like a hug without arms. She could see the mayor watching from the front porch, curiously studying the interaction.

"Hello Pearl." Her mum got a similar welcome, but pulled the alien into a short side hug. "Can you help with the bags?" The tiny women pointed to the back seat.

Garnet would help them later.

"Hi Mayor Dewey." The man didn't notice her approach, entranced with watching Pearl. She snapped her fingers in his face, but it was to no avail. She stood between him and Pearl to block his view.

"Huh?" He squeaked suddenly, focusing on the woman he was here to see in the first place.

"What do you need?" He stares blankly at her. He pulled a messy stack cue cards out from his jacket, folded, creased, and covered in yellow sticky notes, grumbling under his breath as he hastily thumbed through them.

"Security!" He intently scanned the contents of one card, squinting to read the messy writing.

"What about it?" He shoved his notes back in his pocket, dropping a few on the ground. His eyes looked past her.

"Out of the way." She was pulled away from the front door by her mum, making way for Pearl. Her mouth hung open a little to see the wisp of a girl carry all sixty pounds of shopping bags in one go, showing no signs of strain or discomfort.

"Can this wait until tomorrow?" The mayor was thankfully a little distracted, allowing her to slip into the house without interference.  
_____________________________________________

 

Polymorphic sentient rocks was just a ridiculous theory, but one that wouldn't leave her head. Nothing about Pearl screamed rock. She walked, talked, sang, and even drank. Rocks weren't comfortable to cuddle up to, or cried in frustration. Rocks where cold and hard, and for the most part Pearl was soft. The bump on her head was another story. She had originally thought it to be a horn of some sort.

It shone In the light and it glowed when she projected images. Garnet avoided it. Not because it freaked her out, not at all. Her arms twitched with the desire to reach out and touch it, to run her fingers over the smooth surface and to feel the seem where it connects to soft skin. She was sure that would be overstepping some boundaries.

" that doesn't sound right." Steven played a note on his ukulele, listening intently to the tone. Pearl in turn would tighten the violin strings and play, trying to match the sound.

"We do have an electronic tuner." Garnet was busy folding up her new clothes after Steven had rummaged through them. She smiled in amusement at how fascinating both Pearl and Steven found the old instrument.

"I know, but this is also fun." The young boy had a second hand book out, showings the proper tuning. Her mum was moving around in the kitchen, making only the slightest of sounds as she prepared dinner. The tv was on in the back ground, showing reruns of Steven's cartoons.

"There we go!" Pearl smiled at the boys proclamation at finally getting it tuned. They both looked over the book for fingering. It was at times like this Garnet felt overwhelmed with warmth and affection.

"Sweetie, will you call your ma for me and tell her were having dinner over here?"

"Sure mum." Her mouth was already watering at the smell of garlic bread. She walked up to her room to get her walkie talkie.

"Officer Ruby come in Officer Ruby" the cheep equipment cracked loudly. She waited a few moments for her ma to get her self together.

"*this is Officer Ruby*" the sound quality was shit next to a phone, but not as fun.

"The boss has instructed me to tell you dinner is at my house tonight, do you copy?" she heard the other women laugh, making the crackling sound even more noticeable.

"*I'll be there*"

She came back to the living room to find the rest of her clothes folded neatly and waiting for her. Pearl folded the last dress and added it to the top of the pile, adjusting the pile so the corners lined up perfectly.

"Good?" The alien tilted her head, searching the humans face for approval.

"Yes, very good. Thank you Pearl." Her big blue eyes sparkled at the praise, a rock certainly never made her feel this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always feel like adding an end note, but when I get down here I get stuck on what to say, maybe I should start writing end notes before hand.


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

             Pearl didn't know what Beach city day was about, only that the humans where absolutely ecstatic about it. Or at least that's what she could garner from a topless man covered in body paint. The streets where full of people wandering from vendor to vendor, usually in the pursuit of food. Music blasted across the board walk with the help of strategically placed speakers. Half naked humans setup nets on the beach, working together to hit a ball over multiple times. Steven had disappeared with Connie into the festivities, leaving Pearl with Garnet.

She clung tight to the tall women's arm to stay connected to something familiar in this crazy mess. People talked loudly to be heard over the crowd and music, and people drinking fowl smelling liquid shouted in joy. It was an absolute mess.

"It's alright Pearl. Do you want to get away from this crowd?" The smooth voice spoken directly into her ear was more calming and reassuring then anything, allowing her to melt a little into Garnet's warm side. The dark women was wearing a simple dress, that allowed her to to brush up against Bare skin rather then the rougher fabrics that usually adorn her body.

"No, I good." Garnet had been pleased with Pearl's attempts to communicate, she gave her a crooked smile she every time she tried.

"Alright, just tell me if you need a break." Garnet led her around for the most part, but seemed to know when Pearl found something that interests her. They came across Steven and Connie with a group of other children, watching a man put on a show with exotic reptiles; who assured the parents weren't deadly. With a bit more searching Garnet found Sapphire playing guitar hero in an out door setup, while some teens looked on in amazement and a proud Ruby grinned like a fool.

"Hey Garnet, Pearl!"

"Hi Greg." Garnet was a little surprised to see the man take a day off, knowing how hard he worked. Pearl gave a small "Hi" beside her.

"Gave finally gave yourself a day off?"

"I could say the same thing about you, nice dress by the way. Sapphire?" It wasn't really a question, he had know Garnet family for too long, and was considered part of it by all the members. Greg looked a little awkward with a large group of people, he sipped at his beer to calm his own nerves, happy to talk with a familiar face.

"Yeah, but it's a good day for it." Pearl only half listened to the conversation, to much ambient sound made it hard for her to follow. She could feel eyes on her, but couldn't see anyone watching. She jolted to attention when she felt a warm leg brush up against her own.

"Huh?" She blushed at the sensation and looked towards Garnet, noticing Greg was walking away.

" wanna get a drink?" The human placed a concerned hand to her blue cheek.

"Yes." She could still feel eyes on her back as she was led to a long lineup.

_____________________________________________

She was a little interested in what everyone one was drinking, they seemed to enjoy that odd smelling drink. Garnet got her ice tea and got herself some of that strange drink. They settled on the beach, just outside of the party.

"What is that?" The more Garnet drank the more she smiled, her cheeks heated up as blood rushed the the surface. Her posture had loosen as she leaned back on her elbows. The skirt of her dress riding up her leg slightly, just enough to keep drawing Pearl's eyes.

"It's beer."

"Beer?" That gave her a name but did nothing to answer her questions, she'll try again.

"Is good?" The darker girl laughed a deep throaty laugh, wrapping one arm around Pearl's shoulders, pulling her to her side.

"I would say it's an acquired taste to most, it's a bit of a social thing. I personally just enjoy a drink from time to time."

"Different from other drinks?" Pearl had seen Garnet drink many things, but she never got like this, not that she was acting in poor taste.

"Yeah, it can impair you brain." She rethought her words an Pearl's blank stare. "Ok, how about this, it makes your head fuzzy." Pearl nodded hesitantly, she thinks she understands.

"For fun?" It seemed odd to her, but it wasn't unheard of in gem culture.

"Yeah, for fun." She snatched the cup from Garnet to look more carefully at the content.

"Be careful. If you want to try it I won't stop you, but maybe wait until you know more." She let Garnet reclaim her drink, going back to her own ice tea. She laced her fingers with Garnet when their free hands brushed. From across the beach They could see Steven and Connie playing volleyball with some teenagers, his grandmothers cheered them on by the side lines.

As the sun had started to set over the horizon, people started to break off into smaller groups and claim seats across the beach on blankets and towels. Steven and Connie where the first ones to find them, followed closely by Greg. The kids excitedly reiterated their day to the two women as assuredly they had to Greg. Later on Sapphire and Ruby showed up, the latter holding a broken plastic guitar controller.

"Why Wait?" Not that it wasn't enjoyable to spend time like this, but to get into large groups like this to wait seemed odd.

"Fire works!" That wasn't helpful, humans already knew how fire worked or how else could they progress so far technologically.

"It's a show. You put together explosive charges and different minerals, then you shoot them into they sky." Greg tried to explain, having some experience with pyrotechnics from his performing days. Seeing that she didn't understand half of that sentence, Steven tried to to demonstrate. He gave a shrill whistle as he raised his fisted hand,he yelled "boom!" As loudly as possible, spreading his fingers and shaking them slightly, letting his hand fall to his side.

"Just watch."

A whistle cried out through the night, causing the majority of the people to give an exited "oh". Suddenly the sky was set alight in a sparkle of yellow and a great boom echoed. More colours followed in rapid progression, blues, reds, purples, and white. Some would give a quick burst, then go off in a strings. Some gave a giant thundering boom while others a less impressive pop. To think something so destructive could be so beautiful.

The show was short but overall put together very well, people talked about it even as they left. Pearl felt a warm tiny hand slip into hers on the way home. Connie held onto her as they traversed the home bound crowd, not wanting to get separated. Greg headed in the opposite direction, living in a different part of town. Garnet looped her arm through Pearl's, Steven held on to Garnet's own hand. She felt strangely at peace.

_____________________________________________

Steven had cartoons on the tv, but was watching Pearl fiddle with wires. That wasn't to say he didn't enjoy his show, just that watching Pearl at the moment was fascinating. Her machine had two antennas coming out the top, with bits of wires poking out of an old phone case. Pearl clicked her tongue and looked over her work, her gem shining as she pulled out some of her own equipment. The machine buzzed as she used a cube like object as a power source.

As much as he liked having Pearl here, didn't someone miss her? He never asked about what she was making, nor has Garnet from what he could tell, but he assumed she was trying to contact her home. Did she have family, and if so where they looking for her? He didn't have the skills of knowledge to help, of he would have in a heartbeat. He couldn't imagine that no one was looking for her.

Pearl was pulled away from her task by chubby arms wrapping around her and a little face pressed into her arms. The tv showed his heroines standing in a victorious pose, so what had the small human so emotional.

"Dinner is served." Garnet carried two plates of chicken into the tv room and  
they on pull out tv tables. She sent a questioning look over to Pearl but got a confused shrug in return.

"Thanks Garnet." Pearl went back to her mess of wires, leaving the boy to eat. The taller women didn't know what to do, Steven usually inhales his food but now her just pushed chicken and vegetables around with his fork. The boy's sullen mood was even noticed by the alien, who honestly didn't notice much when she focused on a task.

"Steven?" The boy didn't look up from his plate as Pearl called him.

"Do you have a family?" He tried to picture tiny Pearls in his head, or maybe she was small for her species.

"You don't have to answer, I'm just curious." Pearl had to think about that question. If he meant family as in relation, one could say she had hundreds of sisters. But she wasn't close to any other pearls. The only thing she could equate to a family was Pink Diamond and Amethyst, except human families didn't seem to involve ownership over another member from what she could tell.

"Yes." She supposed there was no harm in telling them. He little boy actually seemed to perk up and even Garnet seemed intrigued. She closed her eyes and concentrated on an image. The humans had stopped paying attention to their food, seeing a beam of light from Pearls head take on a more human shape. It was a little gem just over Steven's own hight, sporting a messy head of hair and slightly dirty clothing.

"That 'Amethyst'." She spoke the name in her own language, well aware the humans wouldn't understand but didn't know the human equivalent.

"Awwww she's so cute!" The boy practically squealed as he jumped away from the couch to circle the hologram, he giggled when his fingers went through the head.

"Is she your sister?" Garnet leaned closer, but with much less enthusiasm then Steven.

"No, not word." She smiled affectionately at her projection. No, sister isn't the right word. Maybe human didn't have a word for gem relationships. Her projection shifted, growing almost to the hight of the ceiling. Messy hair turned into neat curls, adding even more volume to the already 8 foot tall women.

"Woah..." Steven's eyes shined, craning his neck back to get a full view of the women. The projection gave a big smile, mouth moving as if to speak, but made no sound.

The projection played a scene on repeat, mouthing a familiar phrase over and over again. 'My Pearl.' Garnet sat ramrod straight, keeping a suspicious eye on the intimidating figure, even if it was just a projection. Pearl had to stop, seeing the representations of the two gems she was closest to hurt.

"Who was that?" Garnet ran a soothing hand between her shoulder blades.

"Pink." She knew the word for the colour, but came up with blanks for the next word.


	8. Chapter 8

Shes done it! Or at least she thinks she has, it's hard to tell honestly. It took a lot of ingenuity and a little bit of imagination to get such primitive components to do what she wanted. Copper conducts electricity well enough for her purpose, but it was not the same as quartz crystals resonating. At least copper is easy to come across in the often disposed of human electronics. Old cell phones can be used to pick up the proper frequencies, unfortunately she doesn't have any gem powered tech to test it on. Hopefully old gem tech would function similarly to its modern counterpart.

She had snuck out through the up stairs window in her room, as she lacked a key and humans loved to lock themselves inside at night for some bizarre reason. She donned an oversized maroon hoodie she had pilfered from the laundry, to avoid recognition. The night was quiet, save for the beeping from her machine and a few passing humans. She moved down narrow alleys and deserted streets, progressively becoming more and more frustrated. She didn't expect to find anything in such a small community, but the machine wouldn't stop signalling that it had picked something up and no matter where she went, she found shit all. Maybe she had the wrong frequency, as it kept leading her to the beach, if it was the wrong frequency it will take 'years' to find the right one without help! 

At this point she had been out for two hours before turning it off, an insignificant amount of time to her, but still more then she would have liked. The ocean was beautiful in the moon light, at least more attractive then her own failures. She kicked off her shoes, taking a step into the chilly water, letting it lap at her ankles. She took a deep breath, taking in the relaxing smell. To be here forever wasn't the worst fate she could think of, quite the contrary actually. She had been welcomed into a warm home, taught skills to blend in, all without being asking for anything in return. She knew a single missing gem, especially a pearl, may not be worth HomeWorld's time and resources. 

She just had hoped she would be worth Pink Diamond's. 

The wind felt like it blew through a hole in her chest. It was as if she had formed with an empty space in her construct. 

"Isn't it a little late to be walking the beach alone?" The voice was deep and gruff, sounding almost like a predatory mammal. She turned to see the women from the human food store, this time wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt. She was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, perhaps she was exercising. That would explain her muscular balk. 

"I am ok, no danger." No matter her intimidating size, she was still weak next to a gem. 

"Heh." The human laughed lowly as she crouched down to the water, splashing her face and arms in an attempt to cool down.

"How can you be so sure? Danger is everywhere." Wow, ok. This girl was a little intense. 

"True." She was quickly loosing interest, not in the mood to socialize.

"We meet earlier didn't we? I'm Jasper." The human stood to her full high, which was well over Pearl's head, shifting closer to stand in front of her. 

"Hi." Her reply was curt, but still the appropriate human response. 

"You must be pretty smart to have picked up the language so quickly." Pearl froze, refused to move as the large women took an intimidating step forward, pressing close into Pearl's personal space. Jasper's smile was full of sharp teeth. Heavy breathing hit Pearl's face, leaving unpleasant moisture to condense on her skin and gem. She needed to ditch the brute. She had enough. 

"Hey, we need to talk." Jasper's large muscular hands wrapped around her wrist, covering more then half of her forearm. Her voice suddenly dour. 

"Let go." She could easily rip her arm away, humans where so week in comparison. Hurting a human would get her more unwanted attention. Jasper tilted her chin up, pulling Pearl in closer. 

"I know what you are." That was a lie, it had to be. No humans seemed aware, not even Garnet's family really knew what she was. 

"I got go."

"You're a gem, a pearl?" She flinched when Jasper reached out with her free hand, attempting to brush the pearl on her forehead in curiosity, She ducked her head to avoid the touch. How the hell could see know that! Jasper seemed like she was expecting the response, giving a low rumbling laugh. Pearl twisted her arm free but didn't flee. She puffed her own chest out, standing proud. 

"We know all about gems. We even have some of their technology." Jasper crossed her arms over her puffed out her own chest in parody, grinning cockily down at her. 

"Lie." 

"We even have a few gems hanging around." They couldn't possibly, have live gems.

"Come with us, you don't belong with these people." 

_____________________________________________

Garnet could wake up from a dead sleep at the snap of a finger; a trait she got from her mum, or at least that's what ma said. Mum could at least fall back to sleep easily enough. The house creaked as it was cooled by the night air. She knew what every sound she heard was, from the constant hum of electronic to Steven's soft snoring but that wasn't enough for her. Her room was illuminated by her alarm clock, displaying 4:00 in large red numbers.

"Ahhhh" She threw back the heavy blanket, already prepared for what she knew she 'had' to do. Every night, before she sleep she would check every room and every lock. It was a habit she got from her ma. She never knew as a child why her ma worried, and when ever she asked the other women would tell her the same thing. 

"It's time for monster patrol."

She slipped in a pair of fuzzy slippers to keep as quiet as possible, not wanting to disturb her sleeping family. Her fist stop was the linen closet, not a likely place to find something but needing to be through. She peeked into Steven's open door, finding him sprawled out with the cat sleeping on his chest. His bed sheets where mostly on the floor, only his right foot was still covered. She paused before the guest room, not wanting to be rude or loud. She knocked gently, listening for any reply while keeping an eye on Steven's door. Nothing. Just a quick peek, Pearl wouldn't notice and she would be able to relax. The more slowly she opened the door, the louder it squeaked, betraying the home owners actions. 

She had the door open just a crack, just enough to see in. The room was dark save for the street light streaming through the open window, not just that. Some one was coming in through the window. The figure jumped when she opened the door with a mighty slam, both Garnet and the intruder where blinded for a moment by the light switch being flicked on. 

She reacted on instinct, throwing all her weight on the would be thief, not allowing them time to flee or reach for a weapon. She grabbed onto what felt like a thick hoodie, dragging them down in a flurry of motion. Her knees dug into their side, effectively pinning them. 

"Garnet!" Shit. She jerked a maroon hood off of them, to find a familiar face. 

"What the fuck Pearl!" The gem stared up at her with big eyes, that shone duller then she was use to. She took a few deep breath, to calm her racing mind and heart. Pearl made no move to get up, nor did she show any discomfort in her position. With a heavy sight she stood, offering her hand to the prostrate women. 

She calms herself. Mum was probably right about her, Pearl may not recognize the problem with leaving through windows. She sat Pearl on the corner of the bed, looking her over for injuries. 

"Sorry Pearl." She kept her voice low, not wanting to scare Pearl or wake Steven. She tugged at the corner of her hoodie, checking her sides for bruising, finding nothing.

"Sorry." Pearl spoke low then she had ever hear her, and avoided her eyes, instead looking down at her own hands. 

"It's ok Pearl. Did I hurt you?" She acted to protect her family, Pearl included, she hoped Pearl know that. Pearl never looked like it would take much effort to break her body. 

"No." Pearl leaned her head on Garnet's shoulder. Garnet sat on the bed, only to have Pearl wiggle onto her lap. She wrapped her arms around the almost frail form, holding her protectively. She leans back into the head board, closing her eyes just for a moment. She could question Pearl in the morning. She lifted the bed covers up to Pearl's shoulders. Pearl could hear the thumping of the human heart, finding it oddly nice at the moment.

 

_____________________________________________

"This is a joke right? A few crummy pieces of broken glass, that's all you took from the sight?!" Peridot stool on a chair, digging threw a box Garnet had provided. She finally came in to the office, now if she could only find it fit to leave. Ma had her day off, so she was stuck dealing with the twerp alone.  
"We're not equipped for recovery operations, I was just there supervising." She could feel the headache starting. Peridot snorted in disbelief. 

"Supervising what? Clods standing around with slack jaws, drooling at a chance to see something interesting." The young agent was very active with her hands as she spoke, making odd gestures that did quite match her words. 

"No." It was a real fight to keep her voice even. "Fire and rescue where top priorities." Was their a place in town that delivers coffee? She had no where near enough sleep for this shit. The stool under Peridot tipped precariously as she tried to push herself up higher on her toes, and closer to falling in the box.

"So anyone and everyone in town could have scavenged the sight and getting their grubby paws on it, great." The agent almost fell as she gimped off her perch, only staying up right by waving her arms as if to fly. 

"I'm going to ask you this only once and if you lie, I'll know." She perhaps would have been intimidating if it wasn't for the voice and size together. One or the other wasn't so bad, both was just adorable. "Did you take anything home with you from the sight." 'Yes' 

"No."

"You have know idea what you're dealing with." She could hear a strange tilt in Peridot's voice, sounding almost like fear. She hated not knowing what was happening, it was a shitty reality. 

"Then just tell me." Her hands clenched to keep from slamming on the desk. 

"That is classified." This was going to be a long day. 

_____________________________________________

Pink, that was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. It was blurry to her unfocused eyes, and her mind had yet to catch up with her body, but it was definitely pink. The colour of home. She curled up tighter to the pink mass, findings it purring against her chest. It was so tempting to let go, just slip back to sleep. Not like she had to do anything today. She buried her head in the pillow, picking up the familiar smell of Garnet, still clinging to the fabric from last night. Heavy blankets covered her from the waist down, still holding in the warm the human provided. 

The nagging thought at the back of her head, telling her she was wasting time, started to push through the haze of sleep. She pulled the blankets from her waist, up over her head, holding on to the precious moment before wakefulness. She purred along with the pink lump, savouring the moment of contentment. 

Eventually, she was forced to wake when the puffy pink ball wiggled it's way out of the blankets. Instead of leaving, the pink mass pushed the blankets down over her head. She sat up with a grumble looking over to the cat who now sat on the bed side table. Her sharp eyes caught something shiny under the cats front paw. She lifted it to find a key and a note. 

Dear Pearl,  
Next time use the front door.  
Garnet. 

Short and to the point. She smiled as she looked at the tiny key, running her fingers over the raised teeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to wright more now that I had time off, but it turned out I'm just tired. This will probably be the last update I do before Christmas. 
> 
> I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday.


	9. Chapter 9

"That's one nice metal detector Ronaldo."

Steven was busy collecting sea shells on the beach with Pearl when they came across Ronaldo, he was pulling a sleigh with various electronics bolted to the structure across the beach, leaving deep tracks in the sand.

"Ha, ha this is not a metal detector." His face was bright red and he panted deeply with his exertion, judging by the length of his tracks, he's been doing this for quite a while.

"Oh, ok. Nice, not metal detector then. Uhhhh...." He knitted his eyebrows tougher, circling the teen boy's latest tool.

"What is it?" Pearl shuffles through a hand full of shells, trying to find any unfortunate hermit crabs to return to the water.

"This, Steven, is ground penetrating radar." The older boy paused for dramatic flair, waiting for the young boy to be impressed.

"Oh cool!" Steven's eyes shone like stars, perking Pearl's own interest.

"How does it work, what part does the digging?!"

"It doesn't dig, it makes a map of the ground below us and shows where things might be buried." The boy fell to the beach with a huff, pulling off his back pack to get to his laptop. Steven sat down next to Ronaldo, interested in the boys latest endeavour. Pearl awkwardly crouched behind them. Ronaldo opened a program Steven had never seen before, showing an in depth 3D map. Different colour represented different depth, a small scale on the side showed what depths the colours represented.

"Wow that's seriously cool!" Pearl had to admit, it was quite impressive. A few of the shapes would be interesting to examine in greater detail.

"I know, this is my first time testing but I think it's working." He talked animatedly, Just thrilled to have someone to talk to who seemed interested.

"Can we help? Pearl is like super strong, I bet we can get this whole beach done in no time!" Ronaldo looked at Pearl appraisingly, trying to determine if she was anything like the young boy raved.

"The whole beach might be a little much, but if you want to help, your welcome." He offered his hand out to shake, smiling brightly. Pearl probably would have complained if it wasn't Steven asking and her own fascination.

"Alright!" Steven's energetic enthusiasm was infectious. All to soon, their sea shells where forgotten.

_____________________________________________

Garnet dropped two boxes of pizza on the kitchen table with a thud, deciding ordering in way they best way to feed her unexpected guest for the evening. Pearl and Ronaldo huddled behind the small screen, pointing out different feature on the map and discussing quietly about the possibilities.

"Thank you for the meal, Officer Garnet." She smiled at the boy who was making an effort to be polite, which was impressive when he got obsessed.

"Thanks Garnet!" Steven spoke around a mouth full of food, but she let that slide.

"No problem." She grabbed a couple of slices of her own, and a container of garlic dipping sauce. Steven affectionately leaned against her as she sat beside him, getting a ruffled head of hair in turn.

"What's with the smell?" Steven looked up at her with wide curious eyes and a scrunched up nose.

"Ha, weird day. Some cows got loose and I had wrangle them up, they weren't happy."

"Oh I guest you could say" the boy snickered at her. "Things got out off hoof." He was laughing every before finishing.

"Well, one was a bit of a bull-y." Ronaldo didn't look away from his screen as he ate, ignoring the terrible dialogue between mother and son. Pearl was was looking over, confused at what was so funny.

"Hey Pearl." Steven tried to pull her into the fun.

"Yes, Steven?"

"Why did the cow keep getting into fights?" His face screwed up as he tried to keep it straight.

"Uh, breeding?" She looked to Garnet for an explanation, but only found a sly smile.

"Nooooo, because he had a beef!" He dissolved into a fit of giggles, holding his head up with his hands to avoid his plate of pizza.

"What is beef?"

"It's a type of meat you can get from a cow." Ronaldo oh so helpful pulled up a display of different cuts of meats on a cow.

"Hey, Steven, Why did the pizza delivery boy show up late?" Garnet leaned closer to the boy, giving a joking faux whisper.

"I don't know, why?"

"Because he was delivering piZzZzZzZa."

"Good one!"

"Good what?" Pearl completely abandoned the screen, shifting over to observe the new interaction. A hint of annoyance and confusion clear on her face.

"Well, much like this pizza, I guest you could say were being a bit cheesy." His snort alarmed Pearl, she looked at the pizza suspiciously.

"Don't worry Pearl, he's just lion." He most definitely was not, Lion was a house cat, even if a lion wasn't a house cat.

"Now you're just being a cheetah." Garnet couldn't fight a laugh when even Ronaldo joined in the good natured jibing.

"I guest, I just can't lynx with you."

"Why did the computer leave the snack isle?"

"Why?"

"It couldn't find the right chip."

"Why did Pearl dislike the bird?" Pearl tilted her head in confusion, waiting for Steven to finish.

"Because it flew over her head!" Pearl decided there may be some things she just never fully understands.

_____________________________________________

Ronaldo had dropped off at home just a few moments ago, he had been thrilled beyond belief when Garnet returned his metal detector. She had taken pity on him and drove, on account of how much he had to carry, that and Steven's big pleading eyes. When she finally got home, Steven had already called asleep. He laid with his head in Pearl's lap, gently snoring as thin fingers brushed his hair. The alien herself was riveted to the tv screen, watching a rendition of swan lake.

"Hey." She kept her voice low as she joined them. She looked over at the young boy, well aware he probably had to much sun today.

"Hi." Pearl leaned into her side, as it has become a common position for them while watching tv. Garnet stretch her arm along narrow shoulders, reviling it the easy interaction.

"How was your day?" She briefly considered Pearl maybe mentally recording her show, maybe that's why her projections were so detailed.

"Fine. Caught shells and map ground. You?"

"That sounds fun. Mine was alright, out side the whole cow thing and even that wasn't too bad." A stage curtain fell after a particular musical number and Pearl turned to face her.

"How cow run away?" In most likeliness, Pearl didn't care about the cows, but was trying to improve her ability to communicate. Garnet liked to think she enjoyed their conversations, even the benign ones.

"Some one crashed into the retaining fence, then drove away." Pearl nodded; she seemed to be trying to come up with her next words.

"Why run?"

"The cows or the car?" She pushed a little, making the sentence just a little more difficult, testing Pearl's ability.

"Both?"

"Well, the driver was probably scared." Pearl poured over the information, trying to connect the dots and translate as she goes.

"Scared of cow?" That didn't make much sense, but it was possible. She new she was probably wrong by Garnet's soft chuckle, she was pulled a little more securely to the larger form of the human.

"I don't think so." The words where spoken into the top of Pearl's hair.

"They probably feared the consequences, like having to pay for the damages." Pearl nodded slowly.

"Cow?"

"I don't know what a cow thinks, but I think they just wanted to explore." She lost Pearl's attention to the tv again when the commercial ended, once again eager to take in the fluid movements of ballet. It wasn't something Garnet would have picked to watch, but she couldn't say it wasn't interesting. She loved to dance, but could never see herself doing ballet. The tiny women on screen made it look so easy, like they put no effort into very demanding positions. The muscles it took to hold some poses, had her own muscles twitching in sympathy.

Pearl's eyes absolutely glowed as she watched, chirping quietly, in what Garnet thinks is appreciation. She swayed in excitement, causing Steven to moan in dissatisfaction at his pillow shifting. Pearl started to pat his head again without a thought, instinctively soothing the boy. Garnet felt warmth spread from her chest to her face. Watching the women dance, she could almost see Pearl in their place.

"Can you dance like that?"

"I dance, made for." She decided to not to think to deeply on that, english was way to easy to change with a few small letters.

"That's interesting, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a boxer."

"You be box?" Steven had pushed with his feet, wiggling himself across Pearl's lap and across both Garnet and Pearl.

"No, not a box, a boxer. It's a type of fighter." Pearl looked at her with concern.

"You're not?"

"No. Ma convinced me to try something with less head injuries and a longer career life span." Pearl was storing away some of the words for future reference, but didn't ask about then just yet, instead she kept the conversation flowing. Humans having a choice in careers was an odd concept to her. The show was now finished and Steven needed to go to bed.

"I'll be back." She lifted the boy with easy, knowing one day he would be to large for this. She was relieved he didn't wake up, as she walked up the creaky stairs. She arranged him on his bed, making sure the pillows were just the way he likes them. She pulled the pillow up over his shoulders, and leaned down to kiss his fore head.

The lighting in the den was set to low, when she returned and the furniture had been moved against the wall, leaving a large open space. Pearl stood in the centre, giving her a small courteous bow and an extended arm out in offering. Even with the lack of light Garnet could see the small, impish smile on the shorter woman's face.

"And what are you up to." Pearl smiled grew into a full blown grin at her playfull tone, eagerly lacing their fingers together when Garnet took her hand. Their was no music, but that didn't stop Pearl from pulling Garnet in tight, and leading her. Garnet was a little surprised at the smaller girl leading, but found it endearing. They started slow, but it soon became clear how easily they could predict the others movements. Pearl quickened her steps and Garnet followed suit, adding twirls to the simple steps. Garnet was caught off guard when Pearl dipped her low, but the delight in Pearl's literally glowing eyes gave her a sense of security. They kept on like that until Garnet was breathing heavily and her legs where about to give out, the room was now light a calming blue by Pearl's brightly glowing gem.

"Thank you." She was about to head for bed, but ended up leaning on Pearl for support when her legs wouldn't cooperate.

"Garnet?" She laughed through her panting at Pearl's concern.

"I'm fine, Pearl. I just need a few minutes." They say on the couch, holding hands as Garnet waited. The light from the glowing gem had started to recede.

"That was lovey." Now that she could breath properly, she leaned over to lay a chaste kiss on Pearl's cheek. She quickly left for bed, nearly tripping over the cat on her way out, refusing to look back at the gem's reaction.

_____________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent most of by down time writing and being lazy. I know there is some truly terrible puns in this, I'm almost sorry for anyone who had to read them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Thanks for bringing lunch babe." Sapphire giggled as her wife kissed her ear, showing her thanks in a rather physical way. The hole office smelled like curry, spiced just the way her wife and daughter liked it and extra chilli sauce for herself. 

"I try to take care of you, but your love of fast food makes it hard." Ruby wrapped her strong arms around her Sapphire, pulling her in close with a playful growl. 

"You know how much I prefer eating you" *ding* Garnet was never happier to have a microwave at the station. 

"Later." Sapphire spoke in a low husky burr, full of promise as she left her wife's arms, stopping only to leave a small kiss on the other women's nose. Ruby didn't seem to notice the smear of ice blue lipstick on her face.

"Come on sweetie, you can't live on coffee alone." Ruby grabbed the back of her daughter's chair, rolling her away from her computer and into the kitchenette. A small table was already set up with three plates of streaming food. 

"I'm sure some scientists are working on that." Her mouth was actually watering at the smell. She used one foot to make the push harder on her ma, but the other woman was undeterred. 

"Well, until then, you will have to suffer through my cooking." This was the first time she had sat with her mum for the last few days, fearing the knowing look her mum always had when she fucked up, that women would make a killing as a psychic. Well maybe she didn't fucked up, Pearl hadn't been acting any differently, but it was hard to shake the feeling. 

"Thank you." She dug into her meal ravenously, body strongly complaining about her stress diet of coffee. The other perk of shovelling food in her face, she didn't have to make small talk. When she had all but licked her plate clean, she was finally forced to meet her mums eyes. 

"Better?" 

"Much." 

"Will you be joining us for movie night?" She knows that tone in Sapphire's voice too well to confuse it, she was going to movie night, ever if she was dragged kicking and screaming. Probably better it would be at her Parent's house, her mum would notice she had yet to move the furniture back into place. As it stood now she couldn't even go into the den without her heart fluttering, remembering the euphoria in Pearl's eyes as they danced, how it felt when they pressed close together, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Only to have her stomach drop, knowing Pearl wasn't of this world. Hell, she might not even be part of this galaxy. 

"Of course will be there." She smiled playfully at her parents, hoping they couldn't see how it strained her face. 

"Any preference?" Garnet briefly thought about another musical, no, they've done that last time. 

"Sometimes with lots of action." 

"I'll see what I can do." Sapphire left for home, leaving her family to clean and return the dishes. The after noon had dragged on painfully slow after that. 

_____________________________________________ 

Pearl had developed a bit of an extra sense over her time on earth, she could always 'feel' where ever Steven and Garnet where. Now, it would seem this sense was extended to Jasper as well. She could tell when the large tanned women was near by, which was great for avoidance, but not so great for the nagging voice in the back of her gem. Jasper had yet to approach her since that night in the beach, instead choosing to observe at a distance. 

The women had claimed to have other gems working with her, but if that was so, surely she knew a pearl wouldn't be worth the effort she was putting into this. Pearl refused to stay at home because of this woman's behaviour, she would not submit. But more and more Jasper would just show up where ever she was, acting like she owned the place. 

"Hi." Pearl approached the large women during the day, in a large public setting. Jasper sat at an outside table on the board walk, here it would be too noticeable if either side got violent. 

"Hey." Jasper gave her a big toothy smile, before returning to her cup of frozen lemonade. The sticky beverage dripped down the corner of her mouth and dripped down her chin.

"How long will stay." Jasper closed her eyes and seem to dwell on the question for a while.

"As long as we are required, got to admit though, it's not a bad place to spend time." The large women shoved poutine in her mouth with a flimsy plastic fork, getting cheese curd and gravy on the front of her shirt. It was probably a good thing she was wearing a big red shirt emblazoned 'Professional Beach Hunk' rather then her black suit. Pearl had to wonder if she purposefully bought a size to small, her bulky muscles strained at the cheep seams. 

"How long do you plan to stay." She laughed at the withering glare she got from the gem.

"Jezzz, you don't have to be so serious. Just enjoy the lovely day." That seemed a little rich coming from miss intimidation. 

"We aren't leaving." She sounded so serious for someone with a gravy moustache. 

"Why not!"

"Because, I think we can help each other. You come work for us, and you'll help you reach your friends. It's not like anyone in town could do it." Her hackles where rising at the other women's presumptuous tone, as if it was the only choice she had. 

"No." Jasper just smiled freraly and rolled her eyes. 

"I gotta admire your stubbornness, but that can only get you so far." Pearl had spend to long in Pink Diamonds political circle to trust this woman at face value. 

"I leave you alone for one minute, and your already flirting with the locals." Peridot came over carrying a plastic tray with a large salad on it. She plopped it down with a displeased hump. The smaller agent was where beige shorts and a white and lime green striped tank top, rather then her business attire. 

"I was just talking, Peri." The small women huffed at the nickname, instead of arguing she looked Pearl over, lifting her head as if to look down on her. 

"Yeah right." She narrowed her eyes at the gem, looking at her as if she was the dirt on the bottom of her shoes. 

"If your going to get to 'know' the locals, at least do it on your own time." She didn't like the strange emphasis the agent was using. Jasper condescendingly ruffled her partners hair, messing up the perfectly styled up do. 

"And Maybe if you took time off you wouldn't be such a tight ass, tight ass." Pearl got up to leave, this was getting her no where. The small women didn't seem to know what she was, or was a good actor. 

"See you later, Pearly." She didn't look back. 

_____________________________________________ 

"Greg!" He jumped at the unexpected shout, dropping a wrench on his foot in surprise.

"Owe! Oh, hey Garnet." On such a sunny day like this the car wash was usually booming, the city had plenty a vain tourists tying to impress each other with shiny vehicles. Instead of washing cars, he was poking through the inner workings of the auto washer. 

"Need any help?" 

"Yes, but aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I'm patrolling."

"Uh huh, so you're taking a walk." He knew damn well that his friend needed activity, or she wouldn't be able to just sit and relax. 

"I'm taking a walk, with authority." Greg chuckled slightly as he was staring into a water piper, awkwardly angling a flash light to see inside. 

"What's wrong with it?"

"I'm having issues with water pressure, I'm trying to see if we have a calcium build up." He just couldn't see anything, but Greg was a patient man, he would keep going. 

"Is the overall pressure bad or just in places?" Garnet casually leaned against a glass wall. 

"Just some. It was off before hand, but still did a good job, now it's at the point where I would feel bad charging for what I know is sub par cleaning."

"You put nothing less then your heart into every thing you do." He chuckled at his friend.

"I could say the same about you." Garnet was laughing, but it was not her usual laugh, sounding strangely tired. Garnet half sat and half leaned on the glass. She looked fine to most people, but most people weren't raising a child with her. 

"How's the family?" He did his best to keep an eye on her reaction, while simultaneously poking a coat hanger thought a pipe. 

"Their your family too." 

"True." He carefully though about how to approach his friend, he wasn't Sapphire or Rose, but he had his own ways. 

"How's the newest addition, Pearl? I hear a lot from Steven, but I figure you can tell me more." Garnet wasn't looking at him anymore, not like he could actually read her face, even if he wanted to. 

"She's fine." Her voice held a tired note.

"Really? Because Steven told me she came from space." 

"And if she was, would it matter?" She spoke in a low and even voice, something he recognized as protectiveness. 

"No, I trust you explicitly. You wouldn't keep someone in your house you thought was a risk to Steven. It's just, I've never seen you so interested in anyone." He tried to be as gentle as he could. No matter how strong she seemed, she was a huge softy on the inside. Garnet took of her glasses, letting the man see the dark bags underneath. He hit something hard with the coat hanger, slowly he prodded at the hard spot, trying to measure the size. 

"She's great." She spoke so softly, sounding similar to his own voice in his home movies, the ones with Rose.

"That's good."

"And a think she likes us." Us was such a vague word, but Greg thinks he understood what she means. 

"Also good." It was strange to hear his friend like this, she hadn't need this overcome with emotions since the first time she held Steven, he had it on tape somewhere.

"I'm a fool." Her voice was cracking. 

"Every one can be foolish, but this seems good right? You like her, she seems to like you." 

"Yeah, but she's trying to go home and I can't even help her. And I'll be happy for her when she does, but even thinking about it hurts. And now I sound stupid." Greg abandoned his pipe to give her a pat on the back. 

"Garnet." He didn't want to make light of her problem. "I still think about Rose daily." Garnet looked down, looking away from him. 

"Sorry." 

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault." 

"It wasn't yours either." 

"Yeah..." He wasn't expecting the women to pull him into a tight hug, they weren't the most touchy of friends. 

"I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"Yeah, but can you imagine what she would say, if she knew we got sad every time we talked about her?" Rose would laugh. 

"She would chastise us." 

"That, and tell you to stop worrying over things you can't control and fight for the things you can." They spent hours talking and laughing together, they were both friends, co-parents and family. Eventually the car was was up in top condition, which involved them both being thoroughly drench, but it was fine on a hot day. Garnet felt a little more at ease,Pearl may not be here forever, but that didn't ruin the time they had now. 

_____________________________________________ 

"Movie! Movie! Movie! Movie!" Steven paraded around his grandmothers' house in his yellow pyjamas. He jumped from table top to chair, avoiding the dangers of the imaginary lava below. Garnet was immune to lava, and was thusly considered a safe perch. She cared snacks in from the kitchen, and Sapphire. Ruby could walk on Lava as well, at least according to the young boy, she had fire powers. Pearl stood at the kitchen exit, studying the carpet, not quite understanding this was a game. The gem was dressed in an oversized t-shirt for pjs and seemed ready for another evening of family bounding. 

"What movie do we have?" She sat her mum down on the love seat, handing off the bags of BBQ chips. 

"I got Rocky this time." She looked over at her son, who was trying to explain the game to Pearl. 

"Do you think that Steven is old enough for that." She was usually laid back about that stuff, but Steven was a sensitive kid. 

"If he gets upset, we will change." Pearl, instead of fighting about the rules of the game, had created a duplicate of herself, which now carried Steven to the couch.

"Hey, Look at what Pearl can do!" The duplicate the was a matte blue, lacking the expressive nature of its master. 

"Very nice Pearl." Ruby punched the gems arm, grabbing Steven's attention that she was on the carpet. 

"Nooo, Pearl, you're burning." The pale alien quickly looked around for smoke, eventually looking to Garnet for help. The boy wiggled in the hold of HoloPearl, attempting to turn it around to save her. 

"I'm fine." 

"It's sneaking up your toes." Sapphire added coolly, spurring the game on. 

"Chairs would not protect from lava." Pearl was scooped up by Garnet, saving her from a fiery fate. 

"Those aren't chairs, they're rocks." Pearl was placed on couch, and when Steven was placed down by the hologram, he curled up on top of Pearl. HoloPearl was dismissed and dissolved away.

"Lava is rock, not safe." She and Steven where bounced in the air, when Garnet jumped into her seat. Steven pulled the throw from the back of the couch over the three of them, while Ruby attended to the blue ray, since she was safe from the fire. They settled down as the movie started. Garnet made a point of keeping her hands above the blankets, but that didn't stop Pearl from nuzzling into her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years! Yes, I decided to get a second chapter out this week before the Steven bomb can take up all my focus. A lot of this chapter is family fluff.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I've been busier then normal, so this may seem a bit short, but I need to get it out.

"Let me help."

            Pearl left the house around midnight, trying to be as quiet as possible for the human's sake and was not expecting to be intersected. She was carrying an armful of shovels she had taken from the garage, her gem held even more.

"Why?" Garnet should be sleeping, especially as a human if she was going to get the optimum amount to function properly. Hell, she already stood a little more slumped then her usual perfect posture. Instead she had been waiting on the porch for the gem, confident Pearl would be heading out at some point. Curiosity was getting the better of her.

"I want to." She reached out to carry some of the alien's burden, taking the largest of the shovels from her willowy arms.

"Okay." There really was little harm in bringing her along, worst comes to worse, she'll fall asleep. She set off without so much as a second look, trusting the human to follow.

Garnet had to work at keeping up, even with her longer legs. The gem wasn't holding back or slowing down. She was huffing and puffing by the time they walked through the abandoned board walk, actually starting to enjoy the slight burn in her legs and the increased beating of her heart from her brisk movements. She had to change her pacing once she hit the soft sand, sinking feet slowed her. The full moon must have been playing tricks on her, because Pearl seemed to walk on air instead of on the sand, leaving no visible foot prints she could follow. She was brought to the bottom of a cliff, where Pearl had already started to dig.

"What are we looking for?" She started upon her own hole, careful to avoid interfering with the other women's shovel. She may not even be in the right spot.

"Found on map." Dug faster then any human was how Pearl started, but soon found more sand was filling in her hole then she could dig. Garnet worked on widening her own hole, before she dug down. It was slower method, but effective.

"What did you find?" Pearl had slowed her own digging to study Garnet'd method, looking at the angle of the dark women's wrists and how much sand she picked up on each stroke.

"Big, round, flat." She didn't know the wording Garnet would understand.

"Is it a rock?" Her own digging got deeper then Pearl's, by the time the alien started to imitate her movements.

"No." Garnet gave a small sarcastic smile to the other women. She started to kickoff her own shoes when sand became an issue, 'accidentally' knocking one into Pearl's leg.

"So it's big, round and flat?" Pearl nodded in affirmation. "Are we digging up a spaceship? If so, you might want more help." Pearl kicked the human's shoe back at her.

"It not spaceship, better."

"Better then a space ship, huh. Is their a time machine down here?"

"Clock?"

"No, I mean something that lets you control time." Pearl actually paused to consider the possibility, before storing the thought for later. She needed to focus on what she saw on the radar, it had the right dimensions of a warp pad. She hoped Steven and Garnet would like it, humans don't seem to have teleportation technology just yet.

"No. Go from one place to other quick." She doubled her efforts on her digging, show was easier then tell.

"Still sounds like a flying saucer." Pearl made sure to throw some sand up In Garnet's direction for that.

Garnet had been so focused on her task, she didn't notice the moon start to go down. The first light of the day started to peek over the ocean when Garnet's shovel clicked on something hard. She thought about going back home to check on Steven. Pearl threw away her own shovel and got in her knees, using her hands to brush the surface clean.

"Look!" She was screaming in excitement, showing off the sparkling blue crystal. She chirped out a happy tune as she worked, bursting out into a full blown tune at the pristine condition of the wrap pad. Garnet got down to help, cleaning with a bit less enthusiasm. Pearl moved quicker then Garnet had ever seen anyone move before, knocking the human over a few times in her vigour.

"Alright, now that we found it, what is it?" Pearl stood in the centre, satisfied with the removal of dirt. Small particles of sand started to shake, dancing across the blue crystal, before they started to rise. Garnet almost jumped off when the hard surface started to glow, as if someone had had put LEDs underneath the crystalline structure. She looked over to see Pearl's forehead gem glowing with the same intensity. God, her life has turned to old fashion science fiction.

"Show you." Pearl offered both of her hands to the human. Garnet had no idea what this was, only that this must be a bad decision waiting to happen.

"Trust." She tried her best to entice the human, smiling, in what she hoped was a calming fashion. Garnet knew she must be mad, but couldn't bring herself to refuse. She's going to regret her decision, no matter what she chose. Or maybe she was just sleep deprived.

"Nothing bad will happen?" She took one of Pearl's hands, still hesitant to take the other.

"No bad." Pearl took her other hand, holding both hands in a secure hold. The pad started to glow again, and this time it didn't stop. She experienced a feeling of weightlessness, until she realized she was actually floating. Pearl smiled and kept a firm hold on her as she started to float above her.

"Wooohoooo!" She let go with one hand to pull off a back flip.

"Care full!" She pulled Garnet closer, trying to stop the human from drifting past he edge of the stream. It would probably be to cold for a warm blooded mammal out side of the stream. She wrapped her arms around her companions torso, keeping her safely pressed to her chest. She kept the human upright when gravity resumed its hold, coming to rest on an nearly identical warp pad.

She did it, she made it to the warp hub!

Garnet had moved away from her hold to look over the edge of the platform. Dark water swirled around the crystal structure, how could humans have possibly over looked all this. Judging from all the different pads surrounding her someone put a lot of time and effort into infrastructure, only to abandon it suddenly. Pearl was busy fretting over the large pad in the centre of the platform. Garnet walked back over to her companion, memorizing everything she could see.

Pearl almost sobbed as she found the central off world warp destroyed. There was no way she would be able to leave the planet now! And all the things she was going to be able to share with Garnet and Steven, gone. The human looked so amazed coming just this far, how she would have loved to show Garnet the moon, to bring Steven to the largest volcano on Mars. Perhaps Pink Diamond would have given, her permission to allow the humans to step foot on HomeWorld. There was so much she could have shared.

"Hey now." She hadn't even noticed the tears rolling down her face, but Garnet sure had. She was gathered up close to the warm human, a strong hand stroking through her hair.

"This is so cool, thank you." Garnet could see a huge crack down the centre of the raised platform, and could only assume that was bad. She rocked the shaking gem slowly in her arms, attempting to calm her in the only way she knew how.

"Ba-but...." She switched back into her native tongue, but Garnet nodded her head, against her hair as if it was spoken in plain english.

"Shhhhhh." She pulled away to smile at the gem, the rough pad of her thumb wiped away blue years.

"The centre thingy is broken, but maybe the other teleportation thingy can still help."

"How?!" It came out as a huffy note to Garnet's ears, but the tone she knew too well.

"You're smart. Think about it, there are other platforms, maybe they can be useful." She bopped the gem's nose

"Let's go home and rest, we'll come back with clear heads."

_____________________________________________

Steven had woken up bright and early as he usually did on sunday morning. A full morning of lounging in his pjs, eating cereal, and watching his favourite cartoons! Steven never could bring himself to pick just one show, they where all so different and someone put so much time and effort into each and every episode. His plans were derailed by a snoring lump on the sofa. He snuck over quietly, not wanting to be rude and wake them up. It was just Garnet and Pearl. His mom's hair was messed up from its usually perfectly square Afro, the arm of the chair kept it from its natural position. Pearl was curled up with her head under Garnet's chin, spindly arms and legs wrapped around the human kept her on the narrow couch.

He snapped a quick photo with his phone, not wanting to miss this rare chance. He sent it to Connie before heading to the kitchen for breakfast.

Now, to pick which cereal he wanted. He probably going to watch his shows in the basement, so he needed the right food this lazy morning. It took much deliberation, but he finally chose some chocolate puff balls, that made the milk chocolaty.  
-bzz- his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took a quick look.

Connie: OMG!!!!

He took his food to the basement, the living room tv was off limits for the moment. It was mostly a gym downstairs, but Garnet had a big tv so she could watch the news as she worked out. He sat on the chair of a universal gym as he flipped through the channels, he was careful not to mess with any of the weights. Garnet had showed him how everything down here worked, mostly so he know how dangerous it could be and wasn't to be played with.  
-bzz-

Connie sent him a photo of her tv playing medical documentaries, followed up by a photo of her mom, taken secretly over her shoulder.

Connie: Learning about everything that could be living inside of me, not the best thing to go with breakfast.

Steven: neato! Nocked out of livroom. Gettin buff

He put his phone down and took a big spoonful of cereal, watching as his favourite character shrunk down to fight a monster in his friends belly.  
-bzz bzz- different ring tone.

GrandmaRuby: morning Steven! I can't get in contact with Garnet, is everything ok?

He attached the same picture he sent Connie before adding a few words.

Steven: she just sleppn

The character pointed his sword at a giant smoking bug, he raised the volume to hear the dramatic music. Steven bounced on the spot, mimicking the movements on screen. He swag his arms, pretending to hold a sword of his own. He winced as the bug got its leg cut off. Ok, Maybe he could help in a battle in a way that didn't involve hurting people. White mage Steven could help keep his friends safe, Connie could be the sword women. He also liked the pretty white robes.  
-bzz bzz-  
-bzz-

He huffed as he was taken away from his fantasies.

Connie: What do you think of a monster biased on the botfly?

GrandmaRuby: ! :Q

He just wanted to watch tv, but he was getting the feeling he was involved in something he shouldn't be.

Steven: whats a botfly  
-bzz bi bzz-

GrandmaSapphire: ?

He usually spent all morning texting with Connie, but now he was thinking of turning off his phone. A bushy tail brushed against his feet, signalling Lion had joined him.  
-bzz bzz-

"Aww come on." He gave a heavy sigh and picked up the large cat, patting his head affectionately.  
-bzz bi bzz-

The cat started to push into the young boys chest, heavy body resting his full weight on the boy.  
-bzz-

He gave up and looked at his phone, recognizing Connie's ring. She sent him a web link.

"Ewwww!" The botfly did seem like a fantasy monster, or a horrific movie monster. He quickly clicked out of his browser, clearing his browser history. He come up with a quick reply for Connie.

Steven: cool how about somethin more fuzzy

The floor creaked above his head. He placed his phone down, he can reply later.


	12. Chapter 12

 

                         Steven jumped off the warp pad just before it stopped glowing, eager to jump into the unknown. Garnet let him go, seeing no immediate danger in the field of strawberries. Her feet sank slightly into the sticky juices right next to the pad, but she was much more interested in the vivid colours of the field around her. It was like she was stepping into an illustration from a child's book.

"Steven!" The boys cheeks where puffed out with a mouth full of strawberry, his face painted red with the sweet, sticky juices.

"Wha?" More juice spilled out of his mouth as he spoke, dribbling down his chin.

"It fine, no danger." Pearl finally stepped over to join them, a projection of the earth her main point of focus. She was working on a meticulous map of the warp system on earth, amazingly none of these places were ever mentioned in any documents on home world. The sea spire, ancient battle fields, even crystal islands! She felt as giddy as Steven, having the opportunity to explore lost history. She didn't run like the humans, she would risk missing out on the smallest of details.

"Did giants live here?" Garnet kept close as he ran up to a giant purple war axe, ready to stop him if he tried to climb it.

"No, gems" Gem seemed an appropriate description, rock seem too unrefined, too undignified. How had she missed something so big? Looks like something a quartz would summon, or maybe a fusion of many quartz. A light tug on her arm had her looking down at the young boy, bringing her attention to his stary eyes.

"Is that what you are? A gem."

"Yes." She backed up in alarm when the boy squealed, her hologram switched to an explanation mark in surprise, then to a quest mark as she looked to Garnet.

"That's so cool!"

Garnet had no idea what it meant to be a gem and she doubted Steven did either, despite his excitement. The more they explored the more it became obvious there was nothing here but weapons. They found a clear spot to stop for lunch, which involved Pearl carrying them up to a floating platform. Steven took out some paper and markers from his bag, drawing everything he could see.

"How the hell did we miss this?" Garnet pulled out two thermos from her Steven's cheese burger back pack, one for tea and one for coffee. She passed the first one to Pearl.

"Don't know." Pearl sat down beside her, leaning into the human. She took a sip of the piping hot liquid.

"No really, people have studied the pyramids for generations. But it looks like we're the first humans to have even looked at these sights. Who misses floating stones?"

"Don't see me."

"We see you just fine." She patted the gem's back, her hand lingering to rest on her shoulder. It was true though. No one seemed to blink an eye at three people using a warp pad, on the beach, in the middle of the day. It just didn't seem right.

"Why would someone build so much, fight, then just up and leave it all?" Pearl shrugs, not knowing herself. She was missing a big chunk of a puzzle here, and it infuriates her.

"Pearl?" The young boy was getting to close to the edge for Garnet's comfort. She stood and got closer, just incase she had to grab him. The ground to tilted under her.

"Yes Steven?"

" There's something moving around down there." Pearl moved over to join them on the edge. Garnet stepped back bringing Steven with her, concerned their combined weight would send them over, but the platform didn't even budge under the gem.

"Where?"

"What did it look like?" Garnet edged closer to the gem.

"Uhhhh. It had lots of hair and lots of legs and pincers on its face!" The boy grabbed a pice of paper and a green marker, hastily drawing a crude mock up.

"Like this!" He waved the drawing around frantically, making it impossible to see. It finally ended up in Garnet's hands.

"A centipede?"

"Can we go look!" He was practically ready to jump down himself.

"No."Garnet was having none of this, bringing Steven along was one thing, but monster hunting was wayyyyyy off the table.

"Aww come on, Pearl!" He looked to Pearl for help, but found himself without back up as Pearl scanned the ground, completely and utterly ignoring them.

"She's not going to help you."

"But you're just going to come back later without me." It was true, but she was an adult. Turned out not to matter, because Pearl had already dived off, leaving the humans safely away from any possible harm.

_____________________________________________

 

The strawberry plants parted with ease with a swing of an old sword Pearl had picked up from the ground, It's blade was as sharp as the day it was created. It was large, much to large for a gem of her size, but it moved as if it was an extension of her own body. It was like dancing with a partner much to large, and she has done that her whole existence. Sometimes the blade wanted to move in a certain direction and she would have to accommodate, not able to completely force her will, small movements of the wrist and hips were enough to control the dance.

It was exhilarating.

Her feet falling in the footprints of those solders who came before her, swinging a sword, just like they would have and cuttings her own path. A life time of standing behind those that made history made her curious about those who cut it.

The plants become thicker and more densely pack, she had to put more effort into her swing. Smooth cuts turned into messy hacking. Still, no sign of any like forms out side of the plants themselves. Steven still called after her, but Garnet stayed quiet. Their complaints weren't important at the moment, keeping them out of trouble was.

Her sharp hearing picked up a constant noise just out side the range of the young mans voice, a low droning hum. She had to keep going. Somethings was out here, she could see flickers of movement in her peripheral, staying for just a moment, then disappearing before she could get a good look. A small snap that eminent from somewhere ahead of her, then a larger one right below her feet.

"Pearl!" The cries went unheeded. Instead she stomped her right foot down a couple of times, testing the sturdiness of the sandy soil before probing the soil with the tip of her sword. She jostled the tip, felling around for what could possibly be making such a sound. She stabbed a few more holes into the ground, until she hit something with a solid thunk. She lifted the sword up, widening her stance and preparing to strike down full force.

*CRaCcCcK!*

An unexpected upheaval of the earth knocked her off balance and flying through the air. Up and up she rose, as if she were a bird, but rather the a sense of freedom she found herself completely overcome with sock. She didn't even realize what was happening until for just a moment, her eyes meet Garnet's as she flew past, it was just for a fraction of a second, but the fraction of a second stretch on for ever for just the two of them. Now she was falling and Garnet could only watch as the small body hit the ground hard.

"RwaaAAHHH!!!!" A shiver ran up the dark women spine at the sharp, penetrating screech. She looked away from the still body to find the source of the booming roar, patting her hip for a gun she knew wouldn't be there. She never carried off duty. Another resounding cry had her knees shaking involuntarily, thousands of years of evolution telling her to flea, an instinct apparently lost on Steven. No, he had to take a step closer to the scene, eagerly edging closer. He's eyes where transfixed upon the newly broken earth, mouth falling open as a large serpentine head broke free from the rubble. The creature shook, dislodging caked on mud and dirt that clang onto the long thick fur that covers it form, strawberry plants grew freely along its body, roots ingrained in the soil it carried and possibly into its vey body. By the time it was free of the ground it stood on six thick legs and was around the size of a two story building.

Maternal instincts kicked into over drive, launching her forward to grab the back of Steven's shirt to keep him from the walking over the edge in his awed stupor. She wrapped her arms around him as if she were a shields, holding him as still as possible to avoid drawing the beasts attention. Her heart raced out of her chest, pounding loudly in her ears. The creature stung its long neck around, searching. She chances a look back around at the downed Pearl, both relived that she hasn't drawn attention to herself and horrified she hasn't moved an inch.

*click* Out of all the things Steven could have possibly done at the moment, like cower or show any amount of self preservation, he decided to take out his phone and snap a picture. Really! She would have screamed if the creatures hadn't just rounded on them, it's large sabre like teeth bared, bringing its head close enough they would have been able to reach out and touch it. And that was exactly what Steven did.

"Steven!" Her low hiss of a warning fell on deaf ears.

It's whole posture completely changed when the boy stroked its cheek, finger tips lightly stroking a brown gem hidden amongst it's fur. The hulking form slumped down becoming soft. Cooing it pressed its head more insistently into the boy's hands. Garnet thought for sure she must have fainted.

"Hi! I'm Steven and this is Garnet!" It gave a deep rumbling from deep in its throat, but rather then menacing it sounded more like a broken purr. This was just ridiculous, this is her life.

_____________________________________________

Light burned at Pearl's eyes when she first tried to open them, tried was the key word here. They where heavy and unresponsive, every attempt to open them ended with them slamming shut involuntarily. Squinting was the only thing she could seem to manage, but it made it twice as hard to focus on what she was seeing.

A pained whimper escaped her as she tried to stand, or at least sit up, but the simple act of moving her arm caused such intense pain her arm locked in place. She wiggles her fingers, trying to move as much as she possibly can. Everything hurt. Long fingers threaded through her own and another hand stroked her hair. She struggled to look up at who had her, but a sweet voice hushed her. She was moved by the figure to a new position so her head was laid on soft surface, soon her eyes where closing again and she let them.

Safe. She let her physical form go with a puff of smoke, receding into her gem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. I know, I disappeared for a week or so. I had a family member staying over and have a hard time writing with people in my space I'm not use to. Probably not my best work because of that but I will do better next time.


	13. Chapter 13

"Pearl?"

Steven's panicked cry rang in Garnet's ear, muffled and distorted by the sound of her own pounding heart. She stared on in utter disbelief as smoke slips between her fingers from where Pearl's own fingers occupied just moments before, the long, thin white wisps seemed like a crude parody of the gem's delicate fingers. Nails dug painfully into the palm of her hand as she tightened her hold, her knuckles turned white, but the smoke slipped away all the same and she was left holding empty air. Her heart dropped as she was left with nothing but a white stone, that now laid inert in her lap. 

"Pearl! Garnet, what just.." His voice cracked, cutting off the rest of his words. His breath quickened and she didn't have to look up to know tears would be welling in his eyes. She also knew if Steven could see her own eyes past her sun glasses, he would have been able to seen her own tears, just bearably being restrained.

 

Pearl's stone was just about as heavy as the entire gems leith body, which honestly wasn't much, but at the moment it was like a cinder block had been placed on her lap. She was pinned, completely frozen on the spot. Her chest tightens, making it impossible to take in full breaths of air.

"Garnet!"

"A-" Her mouth opened around the word, but her throat constricted tightly. 

"Ah-" Her stomach churned, the feelings of acid rose in her throat. Her mouth felt like a desert. A deep panicked breath ended in a sharp chest pain.

"It will be ok! She's just resting." His voice was shaky, not at all convincing.

"Right!" The word openly came out as a sob. He grabbed Garnet's arms in his tiny hands.

"Come on Garnet!" Her hand hovers over Pearl's stone, fingers shaking and twitching with uncontrollable tremors. She had always wanted to touch it before, to run her lips over the seemingly smooth surface as Pearl cuddled up next to her when they where watching tv. It seemed so wrong by itself.

"I." 

"Please!" 

"I-I."

"Garnet!" She finally snapped her head up at her pleading boy. His face was red and puffy, he shook violently, taking in deep heaving breaths. But what really grabbed her attention, what really stopped her heart was how he looked at her, like she could fix anything in the word. Her head was spinning. 

"St-St-St-even." One of his hands rested on her own, bringing it down on the gem in her lap. Its surface was smooth and presently warm to the touch.

"She'll be ok." Garnet picked the stone up and wrapped one arm around Steven, pulling him onto her lap. He reacted instantly, wrapped his arms around her, his face coming rest in the crook of her neck.

"She has to." 

She clenched her eyes and buried her face in the boy's hair. She chocked back a sob, unwilling to worry the boy more then she already has.

_____________________________________________

Greg dragging his feet walking up the steps of one of the nicer houses in down, scuffing his sandals on the fine masonry. He was wrapped up in a dark green polar fleece jacked, the exterior pilled by years of use. His fingers worked absentmindedly in his pockets, enlarging a hole that was already so large it rendered the pocket useless for more then warming his hands. He stopped just short of opening the door. He didn't really need to ring or even knock, the residents were expecting him; though it would probably be considered polite to do so. Still he stood out side, making no move to continue or leave. Yelling could be heard from the other side of the door.

It was only through years of experience he knew the screaming wasn't directed at anyone. Going in there wasn't going to improve the mood of the home or it's owners, if anything it would only make it worse. Before he could fully decide what to do the door opened, almost like magic. Magic that is, until you look down.

"Hello, Greg."

"Hiya, Sapphire. Any luck on your end?" He didn't dwell on the small women's ice like voice. She turned, silently bidding him to fallow, which he did after kicking off his sandals into a messy pile of boots and sneakers by the door, taking care to avoid the neatly stacked shoe rack.

"Nothing still." 

"Oh." It was the answer he was expecting, but still it stung.

When he entered the living room it became apparent Sapphire had been working hard at keeping busy. Plates of freshly baked cookies and even a cheese cake littered the surface of a glass coffee table, taking up every possible ounce of space available. None of it seemed to have been touched. Sapphire curled her legs up under herself as she sat on one half of a love seat. He sat on the couch opposite, his knees protesting his attempt to slowly lower himself.

"Eat." The food looked delicious, but he wasn't really hungry. He wasn't alone in that as rather then dig in, Sapphire nursed a glass of red wine; that was already more then half empty.

"Ugh!"

"Uh, thanks." A chocolate chip cookie turned out to be a hole lot more interesting then acknowledging the very primal sounding cry or the stomping feet up stairs. 

"I drove by Garnet's place. The truck is still in the driveway and the lights are still out."

"I know." Of course she knew, she always seemed to know.

"I'll go back out and check again in a few minute. Mayb-"

"It's fine Greg."

"Yeah but-"

"Nmfffff!" *THUD!*

"But you going to the house again won't change anything."

"There just has to be more we can do then sit around and hope they will show up. I know it's been less then 24 hours, but-" Sapphire finished her drink with one large gulp. Then placed the empty glass on an end table with a sigh.

"But Ruby must have access to some police technology, couldn't she just. I don't know. Track their phones or something?" The cries settled down, but the pacing over their heads was still going strong.

"That was the first thing we looked into."

"Well?" She grabbed the wine bottle she had left or the floor, pouring herself another glass.

"It's not as simple as tv makes it look."

"What? Can't file a missing people report for 24 hours?"

"No, of course not. That would be a ridiculous rule. It's just the main body of our law force in Beach city is Garnet and Ruby. With one out of the picture were working at a huge disadvantage."

"Right." 

"And as for tracking their phones. It's possible, but we don't have the technology on hand. We would have to go the the phone company for records."

"I always just assumed there was gps or something now that just about everyone has cell phones." Sapphire's reply was mearly a hum. The slight stirring of wine caused by Sapphire's trembling fingers was the only real indication of the women's fragile emotional state. 

"They will show up."

"But what if they just disappeared? I had an uncle who did that. Or, what if they got in an accident and are bleeding on the side of the road while we're just sitting around?" He was getting worked up again. He knew it wasn't helping, but what could he do? His boy and his best friend were out there somewhere.

"Or, someone could have taken them." Greg jolted in surprise, he did realize Ruby had finally came down to join them. Her movements were sluggish and her eyes where red and puffy, but a look of determination was firmly set on her face.

 

_____________________________________________

 

'Were somewhere in the northern hemisphere.'

The thought was distance, the information just skimming over her conscious thought without meaning. Her body felt numb and sluggish, unresponsive to the world around her. Not to the excruciatingly slow passage of time, or the cold night air nipping at her fingers tips, the moisture on the ground seeping into her pants, nor the scampering of tiny feet and the rustle of plants. She honestly couldn't even feel her legs any more, with the weighted the sleeping boy on her lap. One of her hands brushed Stevens hair, a motion she had kept up since he had finally cried him self to sleep several hours ago. Or maybe it had only been a few minutes. 

The big strawberry creature from earlier had curled up behind her and wrapped it's great long neck around them. It's big head rested by her leg, occasionally giving her a nudge and a chirp. She paid the creature no mind, only touching it simply because it happened to be between her and the ground at the moment. 

Sleep eluded her, taunted her even. Steven kicked and mumbled in his slumber, never quite able to completely relax, but still she envied him that. She just wanted to sleep for a few minutes, to turn off her brain from the world. Then maybe she could get them home, nice and safe. For now the stars kept her company. Mum use to tell her stories about the stars, but she had a hard time picking out more then the Big Dipper, and at the very top of it shone the northern star.

Her thumb ran over the surface of Pearl's stone in a soothing fashion. It was warm to the touch, whether the heat came from her own hand or the gem she didn't know. Some how it made her feel a little more at ease to hold her, as morbid as that must sound. The right thing to do would probably be to bury it; right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello,  
> I was going to put it this up last week, but I was sort of out of it. But now I'm feel back in the flow and I have so much more to write and the energy to do so.


	14. Chapter 14

 

 

                It's been two whole days since her cellphone had last rang. That in itself wouldn't have been such an odd thing two years ago, but now she didn't know what to make of it. Two whole days since she woke up to her phone vibrating on her night stand, muted to keep her parents unawares. Two days since she heard that silly little pop song, that wasn't in her taste but just screamed Steven. It just wasn't like him.

"I don't hear practicing." She nearly jumped out of her skin at her mothers voice, drifting up from the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry Ma'am!" Hastily she hoisted up her violin, pulling the bow across the E string with a cringe worthy screech.

"Flat." She muttered under her breath, tightening up the string a tad. Her next attempt resonated much more clearly. Using her middle finger she pressed down on the string, switching tones from an E to a G. Tuning wasn't really a labor intensive process, but it kept her fingers busy and her mother happy. She didn't bother pulling out her electric tuner or the old set of tuning forks her parents got her, accuracy wasn't really the goal.

The A string was already pretty spot on, but she fiddled with it anyways, Idly moving her fingers over the peg. A small tweak pushed the note to far up, coming closer to an A sharp. Another attempt gave her an A flat and the beginnings of a headache. The more she tried to force the peg into place, the more it got away from the perfect A. Her neck hurt under the strain of the instrument.

Peeking over at her phone, she looked for any sign of a reply. It was useless, all it did was make her heartache. Her hands slipped away from he violin neck, feeling heavy and numb. Her calls weren't even going through, his phone had been disconnected or turned off. Or he was just tired of her.

"Connie?" The voice was closer then before. Her hands flew back to tuning as her mother slowly creeped up the stairs, her heart raced out of her chest.

"Uh. Yes, Ma'am?"

"Is everything alright? Usually you're well into practice, but you've been tuning for ten minutes." She smiled at her mother, who stood in her door way with her hands firmly planted on her hips.

"Just being extra careful mother, I'm learning to do it without a tuner but it just doesn't sound-" A cool hand pressed into her fore head and the rest of the words caught in the back of her throat. Her mom wasn't a cold women, but she had never been very demonstrative.

"Hmmm. You don't feel warm , but I should use the thermometer just to be sure."

"No! Really, I'm alright." Her mother's hand pulled away but not before running in through her hair, pulling it out of her face. She was quieted by a sharp, disbelieving look. She shrunk back.

"I just want to make sure." She took the violin away from the girl with a sigh, and carefully placed it back in its velvet lined case. Connie stretched her neck, producing a loud crack.

"But-"

"But, nothing. Even if you don't have the flu you still may have something else. You just seem so despondent." Her mother left, leaving Connie to kick her feet off the side of her bed. She allowed herself to fall back on her bed with her arms spread, staring up at the ceiling. With her eyes close she could hear her mother rummaging around the medicine cabinet, yet the silence from her phone seemed to be louder. She pressed her hands down to her belly in an attempt to sooth the twisting sensation.

"Connie! Are you nauseous?" The panicked cry was her only warning before her mother pulled her back up into a sitting position, one hand on her back to steady her and another brushing her hair back.

"I'm fine!" She huffed back before realizing how harsh she sounded.

"That is, I am alright, ma'am." She fried again in a softer voice.

"That it. You're going to bed."

"But-"

"No buts young lady. It's obvious you're not feeling well. Now straight to bed."

"Mom, it's only 6!"

"Then read a book. I'll bring you up some soup in a few minutes and you better be in bed when I get back." She watched her mom leave, knowing full well there would be no convincing her she was alright.

_____________________________________________

She was really only two pages into her book after about 4 hours of reading. Often she found she would reread the same sentence over and over, never quite absorbing the information. Her eyes kept wandering back to her phone. Every time the house freaked and settled as it cooled she would check. When her parents switched television channels down stairs she perked up, hopping to hear that old familiar tune.

"This sucks." She buried her face into her book, pressing the cool pages to her cheeks and taking a deep breath. Book pages were always so much more satisfying to touch and smell over writing paper or printer paper.

*click*

She rolled onto her side, pulling the the comforter over her head. She curled up into a ball, blocking out every possible noise that could raise her hopes.

*click."

Nope, she needs her head phones. It was way to hot under the covers, so she poked her foot out.

*pat pat click*

Finally she sat up again. Nothing seemed out of place and her phone was still inertia

*click*

She frowns. The sound was coming from the window, but this was the second floor.

*pat*

She hesitated. It was unlikely anything larger then a squirrel was out. Instead she turned of her reading light, plunging her room in semi darkness.

She squinted, trying to adjust her eyes. Soon a blurry image of red glowing eyes made themselves known just outside her window. It probably wasn't a human then. That was a relief, slowly she got up to shuffle closer. An opossum was a possibility from the hight or even a raccoon.

*click* a large paw pawed at the window. The image started to come together, showing that the creature had large prominent, pointed ears. Even more odd, it was pink.

"Lion?"

"Meow." She looked at the time before unlatching the window, making sure her parents wouldn't have put the alarm on yet. Lion hoped in without much prompting and sniffed around.

"How did you get up here, let alone from Beach City? That must be quite a ways for a cat." The animal was as strange as the people it lived with, with its bright pink fur and dark eyes. The large cat jumped to her floor with an audible thump, his fur flying in every direction.

"Careful. My dad is allergic to you." Her words went unheeded as the feline seemed much more interested in rubbing itself on every available surface.

"What are you doing here?" She was talking to a cat; perhaps her mother was right. She should sleep. Lion looked at her and puffed out his chest, as if he could understand and that his reason for being here was obvious. She sat back down on her bed.

"Mreow." He jumped up on her bed and sprawled out on her pillow.

_____________________________________________

 

"Hum mm." Steven's eye brows furrowed in concentration, his lips pulled tight. His stance was wide and sturdy, his arm spread wide.

"HMMMMM" Sweat beaded across his is fore head, dripping across his flushed skin to collect on his bushy brows. his teeth clenched tight and his arms started to shake.

"Hngggg!" Vanes bulged on his face and neck. He was so close, he could feel it, but a hand on his shoulder pulled him away and he was falling backwards into two familiar arms.

"That's enough." Garnet spoke softy. Hugging him close, keeping his shaking legs from giving out. He blinked a few times before looking around frantically. Soon it became apparent they were still on the warp pad and still in the ancient strawberry battlefield.

"Awww, but I almost had it this time!" His lungs greedily took in deep panting breaths.

"You did fantastic, but it's time." He tried to stand, but his legs dropped out from underneath him, pushing him even more into the women's hold.

"No, I can do this." He pushed against her, but Garnet just lifted him up.

"I'm not saying you can't, but it's time we make our way home." Three days was enough. They had only stayed that long because they had plenty of food and the weather was still warm and, if she was being completely honest, she hadn't had the energy. All she had wanted to do was sleep. Whenever she tried to even walk to the end of the strawberries all her energy left her, not that she had much to begin with. Steven had no interest of leaving either. Every morning he made his way to the warp pad, trying in every way possible to get them home.

"Just try it with me this time." She sighed and set him back down, her usual tall form seemed so much smaller then he remembers.

"No." She turned, only to be halted by tiny hands tugging at her shirt.

"We can do this." His eye were heard and determined, just daring her to walk away.

"Pearl could do this, gems can do this. This technology wasn't made for human use. I'm sure you could do it if we knew how, but we don't" his hands moved from her shirt to her's.

"Then we can do this, all three of us." He pulled her to stand in the centre of the pad.

"Steven."

"Hand me her gem." She froze.

"We can do this, but we need her gem to do so." She stared him down, licking her lips before making a decision.

"Alright. But just one time." Her hands trembled as she reached into her shirt, pulling out the smooth white stone she had been keeping in her left bra cup, pressed tightly against her heart. Kept safe and warm. Steven positioned the stone so it was pressed between their palms. He closed his eye in concentration. She watched him get into his previous position, following quickly when he opened one eye to peak out at her. Making sure she was doing the same. She tried to empty her head, forcing out all thoughts that weren't of home.

"Hmmm." Steven started the humming, but she was quick to join. It took just a moment for her to harmonize with him. The gem between them heated, even more so then her body could provide.

"HMMMMMM." The humming was no longer just them, the vary air jumped and jolted around them, charged with electricity. The hair on her arms and neck stood on end.

"HMMMMmmm!" There was a bright flash. Her feet lifted from the ground. She opened her eyes to look around them, the pad was glowing blue around them and Pearl was glowing a creamy white. It was over all too soon. The glowing stopped all at once and gravity took over again, pulling them back down to the earth. They fell hard, landing on their bums rather then their feet.

"Awww, man."

"Chiiiiirp." The strawberry dragon looked down at them with mild interest.

_____________________________________________

The board walk was crowded, full of vacationers squeezing out the most they could could from the dying summer months. Family's and students alike ran and skipped, though a little more wobbly in the case of college students. None looked twice at the two older African American women who sat at a picnic table, sipping coffee out of colourful paper cups. The residents of beach city smiled at them, stopping only briefly to offer the two women a respectful hello. If the vacationers knew who they were, they would have been walking a little straighter, or at least pretending not to be so blatantly drunk.

"See anything?" Ruby discreetly scanned the lively crowd under the brim of her maroon baseball cap, keeping her head low to avoid detection.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. That kid is going to drop his ice cream and that teenager will probably have a broken leg by the end of the day." Sapphire sat I front of her wife, scanning from the other side. Her eyes where hidden behind a pair of designer sunglasses.

"I got a family trying way to hard to be 'the very image of a perfect family and a business man who definitely isn't here with his wife." Ruby was becoming increasingly agitated, kicking her feet under the table in announce. Her fingers drummed on the weathered wood beneath them. Sapphire took a sip of her coffee.

"We've been here all day." Ruby took a swing of her own coffee, keeping the cup firmly clenched in her hands afterwards. They waited another half hour before the crowed started to thin, by then even Sapphire was starting to get impatient.

"I see him."

"About fucking time." He was easy enough to spot in a crowd, probably more so then the average teenaged boy. His trench coat went with his theme, but was unpractical for such a warm day so it was kept un buttoned, showing off his flaming t shirt. Bringing it all together was his signature fedora, which matched his shit, not the his coat like it traditionally would have. His eye scanned around him at all times and his movements where jerky and erratic. As he got closer he speed up, taking a set at an adjacent rather then with Ruby and Sapphire.

"Sorry for the public meeting place, I'm fairly certain my lair has been bugged." He didn't look at them as he spoke, one hand rested over his mouth as he took in their surroundings.

"Thanks for meeting with us Ronaldo." Sapphire took control of the conversation.

"Shhh! No names."

"Oh right. Sorry Ringo. You said you have information on what's going on around here."

"That I do Deep blue." He dug into a bulging messenger, pulling out messy stacks of paper.

"I tried to show Officer Garnet a few weeks back, but her eyes were closed to the truth." His hands shook as he shorted through the papers, a few falling away from the stack for just a moment.

"Show her what and what does this have to do with missing people?"

"I'm getting to that Little red." If he heard Ruby's growl, he didn't say anything

"Now, I don't have my laptop, as it can be traced. But this." He slide a sheet of paper forward, showing a bad photo of a shiny piece of rock. "I took this sample from the down UFO months ago. And these." He pushed over five more pages. "Are samples I took from Beach City."

"Get to the point Ringo."

"Originally when the government showed up, I assumed the crash was secretly a government project they didn't want the public to know about. So, doing what I do best. I dug a little deeper." Next he handed Ruby a picture of the agents that had been hanging around. The picture was a little out of focus and seemed to have been snapped behind a bush. It didn't show much, but the boy had taken red sharpie and circled their hand and added question marks.

"Ronaldo, this is serious. People are missing, our family is missing." Sapphire reached over to hold her wife's hand, running her thumb over her tense knuckles.

"Go on, Ringo."

"Uh hum. As I was saying. This rock, when I placed it under the microscope it did something none of the other rocks did. It moved." He paused for dramatic effects, but Ruby was thoroughly unimpressed.

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." Her voice raised well above the hushed whispers.

"Is it really? Really really? How else do you explain the government being here? This isn't government technology they want to cover up, it's much, much too advanced. This is technology from a more advance civilization and they want it, even if it means people have to disappear."

"Why though. Steve never hurt any one, Pearl was just starting to learn and understand and Garnet-." Ruby's voice cracked and her head hung low. She whipped her face with the back of her hand, trying to cover up her sniffle.

"What about miss Garnet?" Ronaldo seemingly forgetting they were pretending not to be together turned with them to look at the young girl who had just joined them at the table. She held a strange pink mainecoon. Even as she stood tall and proper, panic and concern was still evident in her eyes.

"Hello Connie.

_____________________________________________

"Why do we have to use my truck for this?" This wasn't something Greg ever thought he would be doing at this stage in life. The whole concept of sticking it to the man hadn't really been as important as raising his son, the whole idea of rebellion for the sake of rebellion seemed like a life time ago, but Ruby and Sapphire seemed way to ready for this.

"We're breaking into a temporary Government base of operations, Greg; we can't have our only police cruiser seen unmanned at the scene of the crime." Sapphire drove them around and around, the drivers seat was pushed all the way forward so she could reach the pedal's and a cushion gave her a bit more hight to see properly. She was a fantastic driver but her lead foot was staring to make him a little queasy. Gripping his arm rest for dear life he took a beep breath, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Why couldn't we take the Audi?" In the back Ruby fiddled with what appeared to be an old short wave radio. This was getting way to real. His heart was pounding, thudding noisily between his ears.

"It wouldn't have been big enough to hold us and our equipment and we can quickly load on and off through the back doors in this van." He pulled at the neck of his turtle neck, attempting to cool down. While the two women already had black clothing that were thin and flexible, Greg was stuck with some old ratty jeans that were a smidgen to small for him anymore and a thick cable knit sweater.

"Yeah, but it has my name on it!"

"I reported it as stolen. Just in then out quickly and if anyone asks, some teenagers took it on a joy ride." He looked back at Ruby, only to quickly regret it as his stomach churned. Acid was staring to rise in his throat.

"Isn't that a fraudulent claim?" Connie chimed in from some where in the back. She was busy playing with what appeared to be a pair of night vision goggles that had came from a large gym bag Ruby had already prepared and waiting. He was really starting to question how well he really knew these two.

"Of course it is." Ruby handed the young girl a pair of wire cutter. This is was it. This is the night where he'll lose everything. He had already lost his best friend and their child, next would be his statues of a responsible adult.

"Haven't the heroes from your book ever break the rules in order to do the right thing?" The car slowed and sapphire turned off the lights, they where getting close.

"Oh, right. Like when in Unfamiliar Familiar,  
Archimicarus disobeyed Lisa's request to allow her to go meet the hermit that lives in the swamp of lost dream by herself, because he thought it could be a trap only to find out there had never really been a hermit or even a swamp!"

"Shhh-" Sapphire had successfully cut of the girls run on sentence and all the cars attention was on her.

"We're here." By here She seemed to mean just around the corner from the old wear house, not an ideal spot but the lack of cover near by me made it the best. The building was much the same as it had been for the whole time Greg had lived in Beach City, right down to the large section of collapsed wall along the front. The big difference was a large tarp that closed off the interior from the elements and a couple of cameras.

"They covered up the big hole" his heart stopped. This place has only been used for raves and wrestling matches for the last ten years, when the heck would Connie have ever been?

"did you know Garnet and Rose were been the ones to make that hole to begin with?" Ruby's voice was just bursting with pride at that one.

"Really, how?"

"Alright, were here. Now what?" Greg could feel his voice crack as it went up to an uncomfortable octave in his rush to change the subject.

"This building isn't attached to the electrical grid, hasn't been since the 80's." Sapphires cool voice was at least calming.

"So they must have a generator? Probably a big one too." Connie shuffled up from the back to stand between the two front seats, she scanned the exterior with the night vision goggles.

"Yup, and if it's big enough to power the whole building it's probably kept on the out side for ventilation. So I'm thinking we blowing it up with som-"

"What? No!"

"No, what?" Both the small women started at him as if it was some strange concept.

"No explosives! Someone could get hurt."

"Fine, New plan then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, first of all thank you to everyone who sent in a comment or a kudos, it makes me feel a whole lot more motivated. 
> 
> It probably won't take two weeks for Pearl to regenerate like in the tv show. I get the feeling a lot of that had to do with past experiences she doesn't have in this au, but she will be long enough for Garnet and Steven to come home to chaos. As for Mrs Maheswaran, I know she loves her daughter, but I sort of like her trying to relate things to sickness because as a doctor that's something she know how to deal with.


	15. Chapter 15

 

              Steven nearly tripped several times as he walked backwards, determined to wave goodbye to his new friend the whole way out of the strawberry battle field. His hand waved in the air with enough force that Garnet wouldn't have been surprised if he found himself with the ability to fly.

"Bye Dragon. Maybe we'll meet again someday!" The large creature  
gave a warbling farewell, before giving a few thundering movements that Garnet didn't bother to look back to see, her hand held the boys hand tightly to keep him moving. His backpack was weighed down with as many strawberries as they could carry, wanting to have as much food as possible for the long trip, or maybe it would be short. They had no way of knowing where they were or even what content.

"Where are we going?" Rather then turning around, and actually seeing where they were going. He twisted his upper body, awkwardly looking his mother in her eyes.

"There." She pulled their jointed hands, maneuvering the boy to look towards a distance mountain range.

"Ahhh, I see." His eye narrowed as he schooled his face, rubbing his chin to appear as if he was contemplating. The overall look was ruined by his crab like side walking

"What do you see?" Her tone was light and teasing.

"Obviously something interesting is up there."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah! Every one knows something always happens at the top of mountains. In every video game, book and movie mountains tend to have some sort of magic item and or a convenient plot device." She couldn't help the smile pulling at her face. She was just hoping she could see a human settlement from the peaks, but Steven's active imagination had him invested in the journey. Good, it will be easier that way. Her free hand wandered to her chest, absently seeking the smooth stone inside her bra.

"Can't argue with such through research." They fell into old banter with ease. And as they walked their legs slowly started to feel more sure and less heavy.

"What can I say? It's a passion. Can't let my mad video game skills go to waist." Steven had turned around and Started to walk forward on his own, his hand slipping away as he pulled ahead.

"Pft. Mad skills?"

"Hey!" The boy puffed his chest out in fake out rage, but she smiled as his eyes gave him away. They always did.

"Alright, you're going to have to show me these 'mad skills' some time." She ruffled the boys hair, finding it greasier then normal. She knew she probably wasn't better off, days of not bathing and dirty clothes could do that.

" Any time. You don't stand a chance against me, I was raised with video games."

"Hey! I had video games as a kid too."

"Yeah. But you probably had to go to arcades."

"One: I know for a fact you love arcades. But you could get home systems. Two: we had an NES." The distance they had to walk seemed insignificant, hardly noticing when flat terrain gradually started to sloped.

"Seems so primitive to now a days."

"Hey, you're not allowed to sound like an old man yet. Ma and I got hours of fun out of it, even if Mum always seemed to win."

"What about books, have those changed? She honestly had to think about that one. Had books changed?

"Not much, but we didn't have internet reviews. Just the back of book and friends." The boy mauled the information over in his head. She snorted.

"I would miss the Internet if I lived back then."

"You wouldn't have even known about it. The idea of home computers was far off back then, let alone the Internet."

"Does it-" his voice trailed off. She waited patiently for the boy to continue.

"Does it ever stop?" He stopped in his tracks, stopping Garnet. She turned to look, finding the boy looking back down where they came.

"Does what stop?" He sat down on the hard ground with a thump, his shoulders slumped. She lowered herself to join him. His eye fixed firmly on the now distant battlefield.

"I don't know, everything I guess. Things just kinda changed so quickly. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt."

"It can be a little scary, but it's not so bad."

_____________________________________________

"No!"

She had been so close, hours of preparation and training had came down to this moment. It had taken just a moment, a cruel twist of fate.

"Calm your tits nerd. It's just a game." She turned on her adversary, her tiny body shaking, barely containing all her pent up rage. She shook as she stared her down, having a temporary advantage of hight. The cocky grin of the other women's face gave away just how much she was enjoying this.

"Just a game?" Her voice was a low growl, at least as low as she could get it to go. It took everything she had now to smash her game cube controller on Jasper's stupidly smug face.

"Yeah games are fun right? I'm have a lot of fun."

"AGH! How the hell did you beat Fox with Bowser?!" She was close to wrapping the wired from the controller around Jasper's thick neck and cutting off the supply of hot air.

"Come on, Peri. Stop being a sore loser and have a rematch." The way she drawled out the word loser grated at her in all the wrong ways.

"You cheated."

"I'm just better then you."

"No. You're. NOT! You used the game shark didn't you." She slammed her foot to the ground, but rather then a satisfying thud, her dig fuzzy socks muffled the movement into a patter.

"Fine. New game. This time we switch controllers."

"Fine." She snapped the control up, and threw hers into the large women's face. The other Jasper's reflexes stopped it in mid air.

She retook a set beside the giant of a women, grimacing at the chip residue on Jasper's controller. She wiped it off with the sleeve of her hoodie and picked her character, this time going with pikachu. Jasper picked Ganon, generally preferring the larger, heavier hitting characters. But before they could really get going the tv went black. Scratch that, every thing went black.

"My generator!" Peridot tripped over blankets and chip bags as she jolted up, just being saved from hitting her head on a coffee table by a big, tanned meaty hand grabbing.

"Sucks." Jasper finished the sentence.

"It does not. It's never done this before.

"Don't mean it doesn't suck."

"If I find out you tampered with it just to win. So help me, I will end you."

_____________________________________________

Connie kept low as she cased out the joint. Mr. Universe had insisted she stayed in the truck as the adults went and had all the fun, but the look that passed between Ruby, Sapphire and herself told her they knew she wasn't. Even as she slipped on her well practiced smiled and agreed, they all knew. A pair of night vision googles sat heavily upon her head, straining her neck, but allowing her to see all movement around her. The two small figures ahead of her were Ruby and Sapphire, and off to the side a larger figure, was Greg running away from the generator he had just sabotaged. Another pair ran around the side to get the the now broken equipment.

With the cost clear she slipped inside the building without much trouble.

"So what are we taking?" Ruby was already stuffing her bag with papers and electronics when she slid up next to them, not even bothering to see what was on them. The space was disappointingly minimalistic, lacking any of the big fancy computers or specialty equipment she had expected. They had fold out tables, the kind Connie recognized from school bake sales. Definitely non place to keep anyone prisoner.

"Everything. Fill your bag but make it quick, we need to get out before they come back inside." Sapphire pushed her towards the other side of the room, away from the papers and computers. The next table she came across was full of rocks. That was it, just rocks. Not even placed in any particular order or many spectacular ones. She picked up a Petri dish full of sand partials floating in a gel like substance.

"This table just has rocks on it."

"Weirdos." Came Ruby's muttered reply, not bothering to look up from her own pilfering.

"Grab anything that looks important, but don't weigh yourself up with rocks. They're not important." Sapphire stuffed a laptop in her bag, not even looking. Connie stepped away, but found herself turning back. Without fuss, she grabbed a few of the shinier stones. One that caught her eyes was a big smooth blue rock, resting on a cushion. It had a big crack down the centre, and specks of gold colour. She picked it up, even cracked it felt strong and sturdy, but she didn't want to risk breaking it any more. It slipped easily in her pocket.

She walked deeper into the building, toward some make shift sheet partitions. Pushing the sheet aside she found a make shift bed room. The bed was a mess and the floor was covered in barbells. Tip toeing over she checked the bed side table, but only found magazines and food wrappers.

She left for then next partition, finding another room, much like the other one only much cleaner. The bed was actually made in this one. A laptop rested on lime green bedding, it's shiny black surface covered with colourful sticks depicting symbols from many shows, video games and books Connie recognized and a few she didn't.

"Yo. Connie, lets go!" She grabbed the laptop and ran.

_____________________________________________

The car ride was quiet, only narrated by the sound of Greg's heavy breathing. Sweat covered his burning face, caused by a mix of running of and his own nerves. His hand clenched at he fabric near his chest, polling and tugging at it. Connie slept next to Ruby in the back, exhausted the moment her adrenalin rush subsided. Sapphire was as calm as ever as she drove down an old dirt path, getting as far from the city as possible. The moon illuminated the interior of the truck, casting just enough for them to make each other out.

"How are you so calm about this." Greg spoke tentatively. They bounced as they hit a particularly rough patch in the road, the trucks poor suspension throwing them to the side.

"We got what we came for."

"We broke the law, and dragged a kid into the mess." His breathing eased, but his heart was still going strong. Taking his head in one hand, he sighed.

"No one was hurt Greg." Sapphire could always be so concise.

"I know, but aren't we supposed to set a better example." Shaking his head he look towards the back of the track, finding a big smile on the sleeping child's face. Ruby absentmindedly stroked the girls long black hair. "What are we teaching her by bringing her along?"

Sapphire's hands grip tightened on the steering wheel, her rounded nails digging into the pleather.

"We find our family. Worrying about the morality of it all is a luxury best saved for when they are safe." A sharp voice from Sapphire seemed out of place for the women, so different from her cool exterior.

"Connie has a lot of fire in her, she would have gotten herself in trouble trying to find out what was happening on her own if we didn't bring her." Ruby's voice was sure, and maybe even a lift prideful.

"You don't know that. Nobody can know that."

"Steven has it too." Sapphire started

"Stop it."

"So did Rose." Ruby pushed on. Greg pressed his forehead to the passenger side window, seeking something to cool his rapidly forming headache. The car slowed as they reached a secluded area just outside the city limits, where Sapphire's blue sedan was waiting. Ruby was the first to jump out through the back doors, with a sleeping Connie secure in her deceptively strong hold.

"We'll leave the truck here for now." Sapphire started to pack the cars trunk with their find and equipment.

"Fine, just get it back in one piece." He ran a hand over his trucks back doors, taking comfort in every last chip and dent. Every imperfection marked a place in his history.

"Kids buckled up. Are we ready to go?" Ruby looked inside the truck, just to make sure it was clean.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll walk back. Maybe a little air will help clear my head."

"Are you sure Greg? That's about 6 miles." His smile was paper thin.

"Yeah, just get the kid home safe. I'll call you in the morning." Before he could turn to leave a small hand on his bicep stopped him in his tracks. He turned to finding both of the small women look long at him, their eyes full of concern. Silence filled the space between them. None quite knowing what the other one needed to hear. Finally Ruby couldn't stand it anymore.

"Be safe Greg. You're family as well and we would hate if it something happened to you."

"Thank you. Be careful yourselves." As they drove away he took a deep breath through his nose, picking up the scent of the on coming fall.

_____________________________________________

Garnet squinted her eyes as she stared out into the inky darkness of the night. Maybe she was just exhausted, or even lacking proper nutrition. But she was sure of what she was seeing. Just on the otherwise of the mountain range, tucked in between the trees she saw her first real hope for getting home. A spot of light glowing in the distance, beckoning them with its promise or warmth and safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. I'm really going to start pushing for once a week updates again, but I can't promise anything.


	16. Chapter 16

             Dextrous toes fiddled at the hem line of a pant legs, discreetly trying to tug the troublesome material out from under her knee where the thick fabric had taken to bunching. Ruby's uniform was an odd mix of both too loose and too short on Sapphire's body. A plethora of safety pins and clips have been implemented, but the stubborn cloth refused to be pinned down, finding new ways to twist and pull, never sitting quite right nor ever comfortable. Adding to her discomfort was the low hum of florescent light above, permeated every corner of the small room and cast a sickeningly yellow glow.

Honestly, this isn't where she wanted to be at the moment. Not even in the slightest. All she wanted was to go home and crawl into bed and block out the world. She couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to Ruby.

"What kind of lousy, stinking excuse for a police department is this place running?!" Sapphire winced behind the lenses of a spare pair of aviators (pilfered from Garnet's desk), as a 50 some odd old man bellowed in the small shared office, his face bright read from both the sun and pulsating veins on his neck and temples.

"Sir, I really must know what brand and make of camera it was in order to properly fill out a report." The softer voice of Connie answered smoothly, showing no change in response to the man getting in her face and raising his voice. The girl looked rather professional in her tidy dress shirt and Beach City Police hat, hair pulled back into a pony tail through the back hole. Sapphire had been manning the desk on her own while Ruby walked the beach, but when Connie walked in and say the line of people; she had sat herself down behind Ruby's desk and started taking down people's names and taken half the work. All without even being asked. Sapphire would be sure to take her to the book store later as thanks.

"It was one of those fancy ones you see," the Man's wife leaned over with a overly sunny smile trying to be as helpful as possible, even though it was obvious she didn't know more then the brand. Her voice was high and grating, but her sunny disposition was appreciated, even if Sapphire found her head pounding at the sound of her voice.

"Don't bother, Susan. If they're just going to waste our time with a child rather then finding our shit, we might as well find someone who will." Did people honestly expect the police to check every bag on the beach every day?

"I'm a summer Co-Op student from the university."

The lie was smooth, with very little tell. That girl's ability to lie was both admirable and scary. If she didn't know her so well she might be inclined to believe her, herself. The husband shifted, puffing his chest out and leaned over the small girl.

A dominance display that went completely ignored. Whether or not Connie recognized it as such was unseen, but her cool head was impressive.

"See, Jim!" her voice reached a truly epic squeak as she glared witheringly at her husband before continuing on, directing a smile dripping with honey at Connie. "Ok, it was one of those fancy cameras with the changeable lenses and the flash that pops out of the top." Connie smiled back and kept taking notes on the women's vague description.

The day dragged on much as it started, an endless stream of people looking for lost goods, a woman who enjoyed belittling them way to much, a young man who came in panicking over a bag, only to run out without even talking to anyone but himself and one poor couple looking for a teenaged daughter, who thankfully turned up few yards down the beach where they last saw her, flirting with some local teens.

From across the room she could see Connie's eyes fighting to stay open and her shoulders dropping in time with the sun, a pencil in the hand not currently supporting her head lazily ran over paper.

It was finally quite, save for the hum of lights and the sound of pencil on paper. Sapphire just enjoy the quite time before the calls about drunken idiots would started up. The office hadn't been clear for more then five minutes before Sapphire had reached behind herself to unclip her bra, instantly feeling 100% more comfortable.

"Thank you for helping, Connie." Her eyes snapped open wide, a hand coming up to rub them as if she could force away exhaustion. The pencil in her hand left a thick line of graphite on her paper as she jerked, marring the face of something Sapphire couldn't see from a distance.

"It's really no problem, Mrs. Corundum. I'm glade to be of some help." The young girl's voice was low and slightly slurred with sleep, she looked up briefly from her note pad, only to quickly looked away, politely adverting her eyes as Sapphire got the first bra strap under one arm. Instead she flipped her pencil, diligently rubbing away the unwanted line.

"I know, I'm just letting you know it is appreciated." It was just a quick flick of her wrist and the bra was free and shoved un ceremoniously into the bottom of her purse, it would be in good company with the scarf and forgotten recites nesting down there.

"I can't believe how many phones people lose in a day." The safety pins where the next thing Sapphire started picking away.

"Stolen not lost, or at least most are." Sapphire corrects. "It's like this every year. Once we even had a guy who reported a stolen car and when we did find it, the trunk was full of bags the car owner had stolen."

"Really? Talk driving over your own feet." She gave a small affirmative hum.

"So everyone got their stuff back?"

"Most. The people who reported their stuff missing for the most part, some we tracked down with their driver licences. He certainly wasn't the only one stealing."

The door gave a little ring, signalling company. They sit up a bit straighter until Ruby shuffled in. Her feet scuffed along the floor as she went, a tray of drinks in hand.

"Hey, babe. Hey, Connie." Sapphire gratefully accepted a warm cup of coffee handed to her and the affectionate kiss pressed to her forehead, the warmth soothing her head a little.

"Hello, Officer Corundum." Connie looked into her cup with a frown, realizing her cup was filled with hot chocolate and not coffee, but mumbled her thanks anyways; she couldn't really be disappointed when it had little marshmallows in it. Ruby pulled a chair around Garnet's desk to sit next to her wife and dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Bad day?"

"Not bad, just long and hot. I'm getting to old for this shit." Ruby groaned out, sinking deeper in the chair.

"Perhaps you should consider talking to the mayor about hiring some help." Connie pushed her wheeled chair over with her feet, gliding across the room with ease, hardly looking up from her note pad.

"We already had that conversation," Sapphire chuckled lightly."We just avoid it now." She ruffled Ruby's hair.

"Why?" Up close it was clear the girl was drawing a picture of herself with a cape, the long accidental line turned into an eye patch.

"Personality Conflicts mostly." Ruby managed to pull herself into a more proper position. Sapphire stood, rolling her shoulders and stretching.

"Come on, Dear. I'll drive you home." Sapphire was already half way to the door before the others had a chance to stand.

"Awww, come on! You can't start a story like that and then leave me hanging and we haven't even discussed if Ronaldo managed to unlock those computers. Plus, I can always take the bus later!"

"We can talk about it later, and are you telling me your parents would be happy with you taking the bus alone at night?"

"I would be just fine." The whine was small, but clear as day to anyone who was a mother.

"Nope, we're taking you home." Ruby was up, shortly to be followed by the young girl, who dragged her feet.

"Did you at least take a look at the paper work we liberated?"

*RING*

They where just out side as the office phone rang. Ruby looked back before smiling tiredly at her wife.

*RING*

"I'll get it." With a partying nod ,Sapphire and Connie left without a second glance, leaving the only paid police officer to pull herself back to her desk.

*RING*

"Hold your horses, I'm coming already."

*RII-*  
"Beach City Police Department."

*"Ma?"*

_____________________________________________

"They're stopping!"

Garnet didn't hold her breath on that, Steven had been trying to hitch hike for what must have been two hours now and no less then twenty cars had already passed; even if a car did stop, she had serious reservations about getting in a strange car. Honestly just having flat ground under her feet once more was nice. Steven was just so excited, she didn't have the heart to stop him.

"Yessssss!"

She nearly fell when a old beat up pickup truck swerved to a stop just a foot ahead ahead of them, kicking a trail of dust into their faces; it's windows shook and rattled with an odd mix of classical, pop and rap that was pumped from its speakers. The truck looked like it had been painted by competing artist using cans of spray paint, but was predominantly purple swirls, red patches and odd spots of black, with just the smallest hints of orange, pink, blue and green peaking out. A bumper sticker of a cat proudly sat where the brand insignia once rested. It revved a few times, showing off what sounded like an engine in pristine condition. This vehicle was truly a sight. The music dropped significantly as the window rolled down and a teenage girl, with short strawberry blonde hair peeked out and waved.

"Going into town?"

Steven went to run over to the drivers side door to talk, but a firm hand on his shoulder kept him back. The girls smile was charming, but Garnet would not let her self be lulled so easily. She stood tall as possible and lifted her chin. Stepping closer she noticed a boy looking to be in his late teens in the passenger seat, wearing a pair of mirror lens sunglasses.

"Trying to. Any idea how far out it is?"

"The closest town is Pay Dirt and it's about an hour drive from here."

"A whole hour!" Steven's voice cracked just a little at that. The boy in the truck leaned over the girl to look out the window.

"Yo," he gave a small wave. "We're already heading that way if you want to hop in the back. Promise where not like serial killers or anything like that, unless the cereal you're talking about is in a bowl, especially when they have all those tiny marshmallows and fruity pieces." He slipped back quickly to his own seat as the girl attempted to pinch his arm.

"Cut it out. But in all seriousness, if you walk it, you'll be out here all night and no offence and all, but you both look like you already done plenty of that." Steven laughed a little and plucked a stray leaf out of his thick curls, just happy to be talking to someone new. Garnet tightened her lips, glaring the two teens down, not that anyone could see it through her glasses.

"I think I may rather walk a little longer then getting in a truck with someone who jokes about murder." She crossed her arm, trusting Steven to keep back, but of course Steven went closer, openly admiring the shiny studs in the girls ears, nose and the rings on her left eyebrows. The teen boy shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

"Yeah, that was shitty. Sorry. I'll tell you what; there's a little cafe in town, if you let me, I'll make up to you. Why don't you come with us and I'll buy you both some lunch." She's not gonna lie, it was tempting after nothing but days of strawberries. Something about his voice sounded genuine, reminded her a little of a younger Greg.

"You never offer me food as penance." The driver grumbled under her breath.

Steven was already jumping into the deck bed, followed shortly by Garnet. An open window between the cab and and bed allowed conversation to continue uninhibited. The girl smiled over her shoulder before pulling away, letting the sun glint off two rings hanging on her left eyebrows.

"I'm Garnet buy the way and this is my son Steven."

"I'm Billy." The teenaged boy slipped easily into what could only be described as the worst attempt at a southern accent she ever heard. He slipped his hand through the small window to shake their hands, his grip was firm and his nails shined with a thin layer of glossy red polish. Garnet didn't comment on it nor the probably fake name, she was more interested in the two four of cheep beer hidden under a blanket that smells suspiciously like pot she rested against.

"Yeah, Billy." They didn't have to look to hear the sound of the girl rolling her eyes.

"And I am his sister Dominique." Her over the top French accent was flawless next to "Billy's" but was still ultimately as full of shit. Garnet didn't have the energy to play along with their strange game, but judging by the wryly smiles shared between the two, they could amuse themselves.

"Alright, Dominique and Billy. Any idea where we are on the globe?"

"Yeah, you're in the Rocky Mountains. In Canada and all."

_____________________________________________

     

          Two hours later their bellies where full for the first time in days, and they were booked in at the Gold Vein motel, the only motel in town. Pay Dirt as it turned out was actually a nice place, an old gold boom town with a population that was probably under 1000. The motel was beside Chinese food restaurant and both were owned and operated by the same family and from what she understood the grandmother was also the town mayor. The motel had dry beds and hot water and that was all Garnet needed. Steven threw himself onto the pastel coloured floral bed sheets of the first bed while Garnet went straight to the shower.

Ten minutes later she emerged feelings much better, only to find that Steven was snoring up a storm. He had abandoned his pants and top in favour of sleeping in his underpants and curled up around a little pillow nest he had created for Pearl. On the bed side table rested their cell phones, plugged in with bright pink and red cords purchased at the only gas station in town.

She picked up her phone, her fingers trembled slightly as she scrolled through her contacts. She sat on her bed for the night, free hand grasping at the bed sheets in a tense claw she listed to the ringtone. Explaining how she and Steven ended up on the other side of the continent let alone in another country wasn't going to be easy. The line clicked. She swallowed audibly, her throat suddenly dry.

*"Beach City Police department."*

"Ma?" Her voice was an unfamiliar croak to her own ears, but she barely noticed as a familiar warm rush of relief took root in her chest and tingled down her extremities. There was a gasp on the other end of the line, fallowed by a clattering bang and a muffled curse.

"Garnet?" It was spoken as a breathless whisper

"Hey."

"Garnet?" Her voice was a little wavy, but sounded much closer the women who raised her.

"Ma?" She released her death grip on the sheets as she teased.

"Oh, Oh God," Ruby Inhaled deeply. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Get some water if you need, Ma. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." She laid back and closed her eyes, she could almost see see the other women.

"No! I'm fine." She was breathing quick and heavy.

"Are you sure? Is Mum with you? If you pass out, who would answer the phone when I call in to report it?"

"She just left and I'm fine." She huffed. "I'm not the one who has been missing for days!"

"Days huh-"

"Stop it, stop it. This isn't a joke!"

"Ma-"

"Where are you? No wait, are you ok?"

"Where're fine." There was a moment of silence and a sigh.

"And Steven?" This time when she started she was much calmer.

"He's sleeping right here next to me."

"Good." With her eyes closed she could almost her Ma relax into her chair and slump forward to rest her arms on her desk.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." She waited, but all that came after a 40 seconds was a sniff.

"Ma?" She tried again, this time as softly as possible.

"We thought someone took you." Garnet opened her eyes at the sound of a hitched breath and stared at the stucco ceiling. Hearing tears forming in her mothers eyes already twisted her gut, let alone imagining it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello,  
> I know it's been a few months since the last update but I am still working on this.  
> Honestly I've been having a hard time actually bringing myself to site down and edit this. sorry for the wait.


	17. Chapter 17

            It had taken her five hours.

            Five of what had to be the slowest hours of her life for Garnet to come to understand one thing with absolute certainty; she ABSOLUTLY despises that fucking analog clock. She hated how it hung across from her bed, crooked and off center, or how the number 5 seemed to be printed in a slightly different font then the rest of the numbers. The constant ticking was like thousands of tiny daggers being shoved into the back of her eyes and temples until she wanted to scream. It wasn’t even set to the correct time, she thought bitterly. It was ahead by more than an hour.

 

The digital alarm clock that sat on the end table wasn’t on her good list either. Its LEDs lit the room in a sickening green that caused her eyes to strain to see anything, but it was at least set to the correct time. She had checked her cell phone more than once just to conform, each time becoming more and more annoyed. It was 4 in the morning and she was still no closer to sleep then she was at 11. She contemplated getting up and changing the wall clock but refrained, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from smashing it if she got her hands on it. So she sat there glaring, as if her spite alone would be enough to shame it into the correct time.

 

The worst thing wasn’t even the clock, though the machine was pretty awful. Oh, noooo. It was the five fucking hours she spent staring at it rather than sleeping; fantasising about tearing it off the wall and the satisfying crunch the cheap thing would make under her fingers. It wouldn’t be very hard, probably made of cheap flimsy plastic.  

 

A low grumble from the other bed had her glancing away from the wall to check on her little man. Steven who had fallen asleep the moment he hit the pillow, not perturbed by the strange bed sheets that had her skin crawling or the big meal they ate, that had decided to sit heavily in her stomach. She was envious of his ability to sleep just about anywhere. She had sat up in bed around 2 am, having fully given up on sleep. Her body ached and burned from hours of exertion, they twitched no matter what position she tried. Instead of lying down she sat with her back to the head board and her knees tucked into her chest, a singling thin bed sheet wrapped around her shoulders for warmth. The fabric was far from what she was use to, rougher, thinner but she just couldn’t stand another minute of her sweat drenched clothing clinging to her skin.

 

Pearl… or rather what remained of her laid protected on the spare pillow beside her, having been pilfered from Steven’s bed around midnight. It was just a stone; hard and cold to the touch, totally unfitting of the women it belonged to. Still, it carried her scent and she just couldn’t shake the need to keep it safe and warm; for all that was fucking worth. As if keeping it warm would fucking change anything, like the image of that frail body flying through the air would ever not be burned into the back of her eyelids.

 

Tears of frustration welled up in the corners of her eyes; plain clear tears, noting like the teal of Pearl’s. The same colour that coated her hands when she cradled Pearl’s fragile body close. The sticky feeling still lingered on her hands, even after it disappeared in a puff of smoke and persisted long after her shower.

 

With a sigh she pressed her forehead to her knees.

 

She just wanted to sleep, was that really so much to ask for? Just a few hours to turn her brain off and forget. Forget the pain in her muscles and the pounding in her head. Forget about the young boy sleeping on the other bed, who should be at home in bed. Forget about the family that spent days worrying and the scared father that she just know realized she forgot to call and deserved so much more from his best friend then that. Her heart clenched painfully as she chanced one last look at Pearl. She felt so much, too much and all she wanted was a little sleep. Guilt burned in her chest.

 

The clock ticked away on the wall, but to her each tic just sounded like failure.

 

* * *

 

 

            Greg never really felt like he has accomplished anything if he wasn’t moving his hands. Never could, never will. Hell, he couldn’t even listen to the radio without his finger’s playing along. There was just something satisfying about rubbing a soapy sponge over the body of a car and watching the painted surface shine, instant gratification for his effort. The feeling of accomplishment was nice but was ultimately just a short term distraction; he just couldn’t stand to sit around twiddling his thumbs, feeling completely powerless while his son out there somewhere. (As it is now, he couldn’t afford not to work. The summer rush is how he paid bills during the winter seasons.) Using his nails he pushed down into the seams where the car body meet shining chrome accessories, working away the hard to reach dirty. He let himself get lost in the task.

 

“Greg!” He jerked at the familiar gravelly voice spoken/screamed directly into his ear. A Pair of tiny arms wrapped around his waist, knocking the breath out of him. Water drenched his front from the sponge he held onto for dear life. Legs kicked in an attempt to find footing. The world started to blur as his captor started to run and spin.

 

“Hey! Careful with the back, I still need that!” He squealed involuntarily as finger wiggled into his sides, pressing into his stomach, causing him to squirm at the sensation. A torrent of words erupted behind him, the sounds blended together in an incomprehensible mess.

 

“Sorry Greg.” The cool voice of Sapphire broke in to the spinning mess his world had become, but Greg couldn’t locate her in the swirl of colours; at least now he knew it could only be Ruby holding him. The excited babbling came together in an exited scream, right into his ear. He didn’t even realised he was being placed back onto his feet until he was falling back on his ass, the world still spun and his ears ringing. Wincing, he held back the nausea churning in his gut. By the time the world started to still he had both Ruby and Sapphire on each side squeezing the life out of him. Awkwardly he hovered his hands over their backs, bewildered by the bizarre situation he found himself in or if touching them would be welcome on not; Sapphire was rarely demonstrative outside of a handful of people and Ruby’s tends to be a more slap on the back sort of person.

 

“Come on you two. Tell me what’s going on.” He really got worried when sapphire gave a gave muffled sob into his shoulder. Following his gut he pulled them close in an instinctual act of comfort. Ruby laughed.

 

“Please. My heart can’t take much more of this,” his plea harboured no response. He looked around for some explanation, his eyes falling on the owner of the car he was washing, who was watching in interest. Sapphire pushed away, bringing one arm to her face to wipe away her tears, the biggest smile lighting up her face.

 

“We found them.” It was barely a whisper, but the words were powerful enough to stop Greg’s Hammering heart in its track.

 

“Re---,” he choked his throat to dry and his moth moving faster then he could think about what to even say.

 

“Yeah, they called last night.”  Ruby’s arms didn’t reach all the way around his chest but she was danm well doing her best to do so, forcing the air out of his lungs in her exuberance.

 

“They did?” Disbelief coloured his voice. He was on his feet in moments; bring the two women with him.

 

“From Canada.”  Sapphire gripped him tighter as neither she nor her wives legs could touch the ground with Greg holding them up.

 

“How did they even… Are the alright? Did they say what happened?” he didn’t doubt, but it all seemed so surreal.

 

“They fine, just a little tired.” Sapphire patted his arm gently. A gentle kick from Ruby brought him back from his own head and he put them down.

 

“How the hell did they end up out of country? Steven doesn’t even have a passport.” A phone was shoved into his hand by the smiling police officer. He smiled a weak, almost disbelieving smile. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, they had been his family far too long for that; he just really needed to hear from Steven befor he would let himself get to excited.  His hands were shaking so hard he dialling seemed impossible.

 

* * *

 

 

 

           Steven face lit up with an inescapable smile as he strolled down the street, a spring in his step despite the burn in his legs from the past few days of walking. He waved at a few people as he walked, feeling absolutely giddy when the town’s people offered the same curtsy in return. He was just couldn’t bring himself to feel annoyed with the high midday sun warming his skin and the smell of mountain air in his nostrils. The beach was nice, but this was the kind of experiences that had him jumping at the chance every time he entered the warp; visiting new places had him appreciate the familiar smells and sights of home even more.

 

He had woken up 2 hours earlier thanks to a call from his dad, just hearing his voice made things seem better. Garnet had still been asleep when the need for food had him slipping from their shared room. He made sure to leave a note so she wouldn’t worry. The way she was huddled up in the corner of the bed, worried him. She had looked a lot smaller then he had ever seen her and it didn’t sit right with him, but it felt wrong to disturb her. The café they had visited the night before was just up ahead, an 8 minute walk at most. Hopefully bringing back food will make her happy.

 

The glass door of the café was cool to the touch as he entered the establishment, a small bell above the door herald his entry. The scent of fresh coffee caressed his senses, drawing him in. he didn’t care much for the drink himself but the smell was a welcoming one, reminiscing of long hours spent as a family gathered around the table just talking about nothing. The place was mostly empty save for a waiter and a small group of teens and an old woman gathered at the bar. He hesitate for only a moment before proceeding with confidence upon recognising the server behind the counter, it was the same boy who was in the truck yesterday, same off brand sunglasses and all.

 

“Good evening.” Steven stumbled a bit as he jump up onto the bar stool, casually leaning on the counter to play the move off as smooth. The worker smirked at him and nodded in recognition.

 

“Sup, kid? Honestly wasn’t expecting you up and about today.” His voice was smooth. He raised his hand, meeting Steven in a high five.

 

“Hi Billy. You never said you worked here.” Steven grabbed a menu and leafed through. His mouth was already watering.

                             

“He likes to pretend he’s to cool to work. Don’t pay it too much mind.” One of the teens stood up from the end of the group of friends and sat to his right. He’s a little embarrassed to not have noticed her sooner; she was the truck driver and was the only reason he and Garnet weren’t still out walking. Whip cream stuck to the tip of her nose from the sweet smelling brink she was sipping. A smile tugged at her lips as she opened them to say more, but an old winkled hand reached over his shoulder to slap her arm lightly.

 

“Let your brother be, Mary.” interjected the old women, her eyes turned to Steven. Her eyes were a milky brown in colour thanks to cataracts, no longer the natural deep brown/black of her youth. She had a layer of foundation impeccably applied and wore dark lips stick. Her short white hair curled into thin ringlets on the top of her head. The blonde to his right gave a quite, “Yes Nanny;” almost bashfully.

 

“Garnet was right! You did use fake names.” he looked between the boy behind the counter and the girl, who weren’t even trying to hide their amused smirks, a small frown etched on his features. He didn’t want to believe someone would just lie like that.

 

“Don’t let the two want to be miscreants get to you, they act tough but they really are sweet.”

 

“Hey,” The waiter puffed out his chest while wiping down the counter.” I’ll have you know where the baddest this town has ever seen.”

 

“Yeah right,” another teen snorted “Yesterday you guys drove the next town over to pick up ‘the good’ cat food.”

 

“I’ll have you know Prime Minister Jelly Bean has very refined taste for a feline,” Mary defended. “I won’t say I’m sorry for deceiving you, picking up hitch hikers can be dangerous. Normally we wouldn’t have stopped but since you both looked so tired and because you’re young we took a risk.”

 

“Why use fake names?” The boy crossed his arms.

 

“Safety. Don’t want anyone tracking us down”

 

 “Can I just order something to go PLEASE,” Steven felt a headache coming on fast; he didn’t have enough sleep for making new friends.

 

“Sure can, what can I get you?”

 

A half hour later he was trudging back to the hotel carrying two hot meals in a bag, a bottle of orange juice, a paper cup of steaming cup of coffee and an assortment of different tea bags, just in case.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> Yes it has been a while. i haven't stopped work on this in the slightest. im sorry updates have been slow. I even got a lap top so i wasn't always just writing on my phone but I find every time I sit to write on it someone is going to want an essay.
> 
> i would like to say thank you for every one who left a comment last time. i got so anxious about posting that chapter and your comments just meant the world to me at thw moment. i'm sorry i didn't respond indivually like I prefer to do. for every one else reading i thank you as well.
> 
> Pearl will be back soon but its sort of fun thinking how diffrently Garnet and Steven react. neither of then have any previous exsperiance with regeneration so age and experience really canges how they react to things.


	18. Chapter 18

              There are some parts of the beach that seem to be perpetually empty; the sand was filled with large rocks that made laying on the sand difficult and the concession cart never came up that far and most tourist generally didn’t bother with it. All the more reason Connie found herself fond of the area. She spent hours there, both alone and with Steven. The sea air and tranquility was the perfect atmosphere for getting lost in the pages of a good book. With Steven it was the perfect role play destination; it was really like being lost in another world, with no one around to tell them to stop jumping on the rocks or that swinging sticks was a good way to lose an eye. Wizards and knights didn’t need such limitations.

 

Sand squished between her toes as she ran up the beach in bare feet, her sandals held in one hand. She wore a green and white stripped tank top and tan shorts, an over burdened messenger bag hung on her shoulder. She had just gotten brand new note books, the blank pages just calling to her and she knew just the tale to fill them with. Usually she bounced story ideas back and forth with Steven, but now that he was out of the country her parents would have a fit if she called or texted him, if not now then later when they saw the phone bill. She couldn’t even message him on line since he didn’t have access to Wi-Fi a lot of the time. No matter; she would have the story roughed out soon, and then she will have just as interesting a story for him as he surely would for her.

 

Just as she was nearing the little alcove a flock of sea gals flew right past her.

 

“Yeah you better run you thieving birds! YOU HAVE THE ADDAPTATION OF LAND, SEA AND AIR AND UTILIZE THEM ALL POORLY!” Connie approached with caution, ducking behind a large smooth stone and keeping out of sight. She peeked out to assess the situation. It looked like that the small blonde government agent, surrounded by a flock of Seagulls. She wore the same black suit as earlier; it must be sweltering in the warm weather. She certainly would have stuck out like a sore thumb with the other beach going, but along this abandoned strip she sort of looked like she was trying to take a picture for an album cover.

“Stop it,” the women growled out, waving her arms like a mad woman as she tried to shoo the animals away. “I don’t have any more food.” The birds ignored her rambling, swopping down and trying to land on her head and arms.

 

“I swear to science! I don’t know if you’re edible, but I’m willing to feed all of you to Jasper if you don’t leave me be.” She picked up a rock and hurled it, casting it out towards the sea. The birds gave chase, leaving behind a dumfounded woman.  Peridot knelt down on one knee and picked up another stone, giving the stone an appraising look.

 

“Unbelievable,” she sighed in exasperation, watching as the birds searched the sea for the stone. A smaller seagull hopped over the stones to her and dropped a pebble at her feet, squawking and jumping happily when she picked it up. “What kind of evolutionary joke is this? Birds who want to play fetch.” She threw the rocks blindly, sending the stones whizzing by Connie’s head.

 

“I hate this stupid town.”

 

“It’s not that bad.” Connie came out from her hiding spot, whipping the sand off the bottom of her bag. Peridot froze briefly in surprise, but the moment was short lived. She sneered.

 

“Oh great, a resident of this god forsaken town, and a tiny one at that.” Peridot sat down in the sand, her hand spread out in the air as if waiting for lightning to randomly manifest from the crystal clear sky and strikes her down. “Are you here to tell me how great this town is like some sort of shitty summer time rendition of The Charismas Carol?”

 

“No,” the young girl denied. “I just came out here to hang out.  And I’m not a resident, I just live nearby.” Connie sat down nearby, keeping just out of arm reach from the older women.

“Why would you every come to this awful place voluntarily?” She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her right arm on her knees; she looked at Connie with suspicion clear in her eyes.

 

“I like it here.”She ran her fingers through the sand, making random patterns. “You’re an adult, if you don’t like it here why don’t you just leave.”

 

 

“I can’t.” Peridot huffed as she digging through the sand with her left hand, picking up all the small stones she could find and making a small pile.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Uggg! Will you just go away and leave me to wallow in peace.” The blonde women grabbed her pile of stones in one clenched fist and hurled then towards the water, each stone hitting with a splash. Really this one was dramatic. Connie rolled her eyes; she wasn’t about to leave, this women had all the ferocity of a barking cat. Sure she showed her teeth and growled but really, no one was intimidated.

 

“No, I always come here for quiet. As I see in you’re in my space and are welcome to leave whenever you like.”

 

“That’s ridicules.”

 

“You don’t own this spot either.” Connie sassed back.

 

“Yes, but I was here first so go away. You said something about hanging out didn’t you? That usually involves multiple people; so go a find your friends instead of bugging me” The young girl didn’t answer, choosing instead to let her silence speak for her. She opened her messenger bag and pulled out her new note book, taking a moment to run her hand over the pristine cover; her fingers playing along the groves of the embossed surface. Peridot shifted and mumbled beside her, but it was all just back ground noise next to the ocean. She opened the cover of her book, running her thumb over the page in reverence. The paper was of a thicker more expensive stock that had a nice texture to it; should she use a pen, or a pencil. She had some really nice pens that would just look so good on the paper, but if she messed up with the ink it would be such a waste.

 

”This was supposed to be an easy job.”

 

”Oh?” Connie barely hummed in acknowledgment, not bothering to look up as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a couple of fabric pencil cases. Sure the curiosity was eating away at her, but she wasn’t going to push.

 

“Investigate, interview and collect,” Peridot sighed the words. “It shouldn’t have taken more than a week at most.” A small splash finished the sentence as she flicked another rock.

 

“What changed?” Peridot shrugged. The seagulls started to congregate around her once more, but they stayed quiet as if reading the subdued mood.

 

“For once I don’t have a clue.” Connie looked up, the slight quiver in the other women’s voice drawing her attention away from sparkling gel pens.

 

“My partner was adamant about something being here; I don’t see it, but she is my senior so I’m stuck here until she’s satisfied.” The agent rubbed her fore head, trying to massage away a forming head ach. The birds surrounding her hopped closer, one trying to dig under her leg. “I think she just wanted a paid vacation at this point.” Connie had her doubts about that. She remembered the other agent, big and scary; Steven said she had been hanging around. He was convinced they where after Pearl and Garnet has been on edge about the whole thing. This woman seemed to know nothing about it so Connie kept her mouth shut.

 

“If this was a proper vacation we would be able to stay in a hotel room with running water and room service, but NoOoOooo. We get to sleep in a make shift base and listen to the generator all night.” She was pulling at her hair now, gnashing her teeth.

 

“And look at where it got us; robbed!” She threw her hands up and kicked her legs out, her face twisted in an odd expression that was somewhere between funny and frightening.

 

“Thousands of dollars in equipment gone! Important researched possibly compromised and precious species lost forever. And if the threat of losing my job isn’t enough my laptop is gone!”

 

“What are you investigating?” The kid pulled out a couple of brightly coloured sparkling pens before shaking her head and putting them back, a more mature flat colour would look nicer; perhaps a dark purple.

 

“There is no way you have clearance to know that.” It was really hard to not snap at the condescending snort directed at her in that grating nasally voice, her fist clenching with the effort.

 

“Then who can?”

 

“Certainly no anyone who lives in this nutty place.”

 

“Then how do you interview people if they can’t know what you’re looking for?”

 

“It’s not easy.” Was she bragging? She sounds way too smug for a women freaking out on the beach in the middle of the day and venting to a child.

 

“Just asking seems easier.”

 

“They couldn’t handle the truth of what I work with.” Yup, definitely bragging.

 

“So you get to decide for them,” Connie growled. “What gives you that right?” She threw her supplies to the side and crossed her arms as she stared the women down. With a roll of her eyes Peridot stood, turning away from the child.

 

“People don’t like information that challenges their world view; there more than happy if you don’t give it to them.”

 

“That just sounds like weak justification for lying!” Peridot was already walking away and if she heard Connie over the waves and the squawking sea birds she didn’t stop to listen.

 

With a sigh she started to pack up her supplies; there was no way she was going to get any work done on her story now. Her mind was in more of a mess now then she was before coming out. How could she dislike someone and still feel guilt over them? If they Ruby and Sapphire where any closer to finding out what the agents were here for they sure haven’t told her. From the stuff she managed to pocket from the raid, the only thing she could figure the woman was interested in was rocks. Still. It was honestly hard to look at the women and not feel the slight bit guilty. They had stolen from her; at the time it made sense, now it feels like they may have been a little hasty.

 

What was she up to?

 

* * *

 

 

“No.”

 

“But-” Steven’s face fell, a rebuttal dying on the tip of his tongue. Garnet shook her head, a firm resolute no, leaving little room for argument.

 

“We’re not sneaking over the border.”

 

“Why not?” He whines. “We can cross over and just get a flight home.”

 

“I think you underestimate how far we are to the border.”

 

“But what are we going to tell the US embassy?”

 

“We’ll figure something out.”

 

Steven closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to imagine such a conversation “Sorry, we didn’t mean to get trapped here. We were just teleporting around the world with an alien and ran into trouble with a dragon.” Garnet tensed but he continues on, ignorant of the way she hunched over; an unconscious act on her part. “And now our alien is hurt and we don’t know when she’ll be better.”

 

“Steven.” He didn’t respond to her calming town, or much at all. He stared into space, lost in his own little world. Multiple scenarios played through his mind; over and over again and none ending well. A pair of arms wrapped around him and he melted into the protective embrace, his head finding its way to her chest. His eyes closed as the strong steady pulls of her heart sounded in his ears.

 

“It’ll be ok.” Steven nodded. Garnet could only hope she sounded more confident than she felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i'm getting the feeling the Diamonds are just super dramatic and wanted pearl's as back up singers and dancers. 
> 
> also multiple chapters a month again!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, happy Valentine’s Day everyone. This chapter is a bit late; I wasn’t happy with the original version of the last part of this story and wanted to rewrite it and I just didn’t get much chance to just sit and write. Sometimes things like that happen but oh well. This turned up way longer than I was expecting.  
> Something just to point out for this chapter Pearl does speak in her own langue to Garnet quite a bit, I hope it was clear in the writing but if not it’s all italicized  
> “Pearl talking in her native language.”

               John didn't have a glamorous nor was it a very well paying job; family business where just sort of like that he supposed; not that he really had much to compare it to. At least his boss didn't care when he played music and danced as he worked. Their motel rarely had that many guest at any given time, so he made extra sure the occupied rooms shined.

He swung his hips as he vacuumed; the machine was his dance partner and together they efficiently cleaned the floor cut a rug, all without missing a step. The floor was already clean at this point but the song was only half finished and he was rocking it so he danced on; taking long dramatic steps and twirls. The song picked up, taking his heart rate with it. In this moment he ceased to be just John and became the King of Dance. He gyrated his hips as released the vacuum, sliding towards the beds and removed the sheets. Nodding his head to the beat, he flapping the sheets a few times to make sure they were empty and placed them in his hamper. He leaned down to get a new set of sheets from the bottom rack of his trolley.

He turned on the tips of his toes, and stopped dead in his track seeing he had an audience. An embarrassed flushed warmed his cheeks, gripping the sheet set to his heart. The intruder did not pay him much mind, instead looking at her own clothing in great interest. She was dressed a little odd from his perspective, a bit like a ballerina; a teal leotard with a pink diamond emblazed prominently on her chest, a white sheer too-too with skin tight yellow shorts underneath and what appeared to be a pink see through jacket hanging off her shoulders. A bold stylistic choice for sure, but it suited her just fine. She sure seemed to like pastels.

Easing the buds from his ears he shot her what he hope was a friendly smile, nervousness working its way through his gut. "Hi." She didn't answer; instead she stood on her tip toes and extended one foot, inspecting her teal ballet flats. Perhaps she was French.

"Parlez-vous français?" No luck and he was running out of languages. He contemplated getting his grandma, she spoke Cantonese. While he wouldn't bet on this girl speaking it, he was sort of lacking on options here. Just as he was about to get her, the stranger’s eyes fell on him, big and full of curiosity, he awkwardly waved. She chirped at him and he almost didn’t believe it, until she did it again. She sounded a bit like a chickadee.

"Uh." She set of in a long rapid fire of chirps, moving her arms in extravagant movements, not stopping to let him get a word in. She flittered about the room, her eyes wide and panicked. She picked up a back pack belonging to one of the renters, it was in the shape of a cheese burger and John knew it belonged to the son.

"Hey I can't let you take that." She pointed at it and continued on, making a sound that was somewhat more English but spoken to quickly to understand.

"Hissssss." She straight up hissed. John took a step back. But the women kept hissing, cycling through different pitches and altering the shape of her mouth. He wasn’t sure what she was attempting; only that she wasn’t succeeding and more she tried the more upset she got.

"Ssss." She opened the bag and started to dig, paying little mind to the contents that fall on the just vacuumed carpet. A mess he was going to have to clean.

"Come on, you can't go through other people's thing." His please fell on deft ears as he pulled out a note book from the cheese pocket and pointed a long spindly finger to the name on the cover.

"Steven," he read aloud and the woman vigorously nodded her head.

"Shhteevaaan." She repeats after him, the first thing that she had said that he actually understood, much to his relief. Then she tries again once more, slowing down. "Steven."

"What about Steven? I'm sorry but I don't understand what you’re trying to say." She released an ear piercing shriek, causing John to recoil and drop the bed sheets. The woman darted past him towards the door, without thinking his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She turned and stared him down with steely eyes with a look that could cut him to ribbons with its intensity. He pulled back and held his hands up, sweating profusely under her glare.

"Sorry," he amended. "I shouldn't have touched you." She pulled her hand back, pulling it to her chest and gripping the novelty back pack to her chest like it was the most important thing to her.

"Why don't we go talk to my grandma, she might be able to help." She relaxed marginally, never losing her suspicion. John tried to lower his tense shoulders, hoping if he was calm she would mirror him.

"Help." She spoke just a hair above a whisper.

"Yes. Help." He left his trolley and walked outside, relieved that she followed. She held Steven's back pack the entire way to the lobby; John let it go, trying to wrestle it from her seemed like a bad idea. The walk was short, but trying to get the girl inside was hard. She recoiled at the ring the alarm system gave when the door open and dug her feet in the ground. Sighing, he flipped the door jamb down with his foot and left her out there.

"Nana!" The old woman was already looking over from the counter, she looked busy but John knew she was probably on Facebook or playing a game.

"New girlfriend?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Nana." He leaned over the counter taking a look at the computer screen. The grand mother gave the girl a once over. Her eyes lingering on the pearl embellishing the girl’s fore head, framed perfectly by her feathery bangs.

"Is she one of your dance friends?"

"No. She was in one of the rooms, I think she's friends with the two Americans but I can't understand what she's saying." She nodded and waved the girl in but she remained motionless. She picked up a bowl of complementary mints.

"Come in Ms ballerina, I have candy." She shook the bowl in a gesture one would use to entice a dog. The strange women stuck one foot past the threshold, satisfied her foot didn't fall off she entered.

"Come along take a set. John, get our guest some coffee." The young man hesitated, reluctant to leave them alone. Nana rolled her eyes at him and he left; no one would dare trifle with his nana, she was rather fierce. The grandmother watched him leaves before returning to their guest. The women stood with her back ram rod strait to a wall.

"Relax child, no one will harm you here."

"Grrrr-" She released a low growl, but it was not a harsh sound. The older women waved it off.

"Gurrrrr" She opened a binder on her desk. Looking through the short list of renters. She passed the list of people who lived there all year long, at the very bottom she found the name she was looking for.

"You're here with Garnet right?" The women's eyes light up and she nodded vigorously. Nana smiled at the melodious cooing she gave.

"Can you understand me?" The girl nodded.

"Ya." Now that she was calming her mouth seemed a little more cooperating, sounds coming out easier.

"Good. Your friends went out early this morning, why don't you stay and wait here. You can keep an old women company."

"Back?"

"Of course they will. We still have their stuff after all."

John comes back a half hour later to his grandma and the girl huddled close behind the computer monitor, judging from their matching grins and the sounds of screams from the speakers, they were playing quite the game. He did the only sensible thing by returning to work and not asking. He had a room to reclean.

 

 

* * *

 

 

          Thick eyebrows furrowed in intense concentration, glistening with large beads of sweat that trickled down his fore head. Water seeped through the thick cotton of his work jeans where he knelt in the mud, providing sharp relief from the mid day sun beating down his back. His eyes remained glued on his task, unblinking as his arms moved in a controlled steady rhythm. After what felt like hours he saw it, his eye lit up and he jumped to his feet, nearly dropping his treasure. “Garnet!” water sloshed as he tried to run in the shallow water, too excited to slow down. He made his way to the tree line where the older woman leaned casually against an oak tree, keeping a careful eye over her son.

“I found something!” His hand shook as he held out his pan for inspection. His smile widened immensely when a large hand patted his head.

“Great job Steven.” Garnet smiled, giving the boy a thumbs up. He had indeed succeeded, his pan sparkles with tiny specs of gold, sparsely intersected amongst sand and other small particulates. It was nice to really see him enjoying himself. Pretending to be on a regular vacation seemed to work for him.

“This is more difficult than TV makes it look.”

“Most things are.”

“Ms Woods, I found gold!” he called to the guide, a women in her mid twenties with shoulder length mousy brown hair and green eyes. She had long abandoned her own pan to splash around in the river with her dog. She smiles and made her way over to the pair. Her corgi fallowed behind, taking high proud steps through the water that came up to his chin.

“Awesome!” she placed her fingers in his pan, pushing the sand to the side and exposing the gold collecting in the groves underneath. “You’re almost done, don’t be frightened about losing the gold, it’s heaver then the sand and will want to stay in the groves.”

“I know, but will you show me one more time?”

“Not a problem. Come on.” Garnet watched as they sent back to the water, both Steven and the young adult were genuinely enjoying themselves, but she wasn’t inclined to join in; she was still exhausted and only agreed to the suggestion to come out here because the guide was driving. The girl’s name was Amber and she moved through the woods as if she leaved in them; he was nice enough and Steven liked her, but Steven rarely disliked anyone. She considered herself more critical than him. Amber’s dog stayed rather than going back to the water, choosing instead to press his cold nose to Garnet’s leg, silently soliciting attention. Garnet couldn’t resist something so cute, not that she wanted to and soon crouched down. The dog soaked up the attention, kicking its leg as she scratched behind its ears and leaning on her for support. By the time Steven and Amber returned she was sitting with the dog in her lap, not giving a care for the large wet spot his saddened fur caused or the hair he left on her.

“Did Morgan over power you?” Ms Woods questioned with a good natured chuckle.

“He’s a very convincing.”

“That’s one word for what he is.” She gave a wryly smile, pulling out a small glass jar and plastic syringe with a blunt plastic tip. Using the syringe she collected the small amount of gold still trapped in water and transferred it to the bottle. Steven sat to Garnet’s left, giving the animal a chin scratch.

“I think he’s cute.” The young boy added; the dog wiggled into his fingers.

“That’s just how he pulls you in, next thing you know you’re feeding him and picking up his poop.” Steven pulled a disgusted face and the adults laughed.

“That’s just part of owning a pet.” Garnet nudged him in the shoulder. “Aww come on, Steven. I was just thinking about convince mayor Dewy that we need a police dog.”

“We don’t pick up after Lion.” The boy protested with a pout.

“Lion isn’t our cat and he comes and goes as he pleases.”

“Picking up after your animals is just part of owning an animal. It’s part of being a responsible owner.” Amber handed the boy the little jar of gold, the top corked shut. Steven accepted it, shaking his head a little. The dog in the mean time had twisted his way onto his back and wiggled his way to lay half way over both Steven’s and Garnet’s laps.

“Want to look for more gold or are we done for the day?” Amber leaned against the tree, content either way. Garnet stayed quiet, she was out here for Steven and allowed him to make the choice. Steven showed no sign of getting up, resting his head on Garnet’s shoulder.

“Can we stay a bit longer?” They stayed out until the sky turned orange.  
  


 

* * *

 

 

 

             After all these years, Garnet still finds herself surprised how easy it is to carry Steven even after all these years. He curled up in her arms just like a baby no matter how much weight he gained or how long he got. He was still so small; most of Garnet’s family was compared to her, but neither Rose nor Greg where small so she didn’t know where the kid got it. Steven had fallen asleep on the back seat on the ride back to the motel, falling into a deep sleep easily after a long day working in the hot sun. She didn't have the heart to wake him and had simply picked him up. Opening the door proved to be difficult. Carrying him with one arm was no longer a possibility. She wound up accepting Amber’s offer of help to open the door.

Have a stranger digging through her pockets was odd (really odd), though a little amusing and somewhat comfortable seeing how awkward Amber was over the whole thing. The girl avoided her eyes, her face turning a brightest shade of red Garnet had ever seen when her hand slipped into garnets back pocket. Thankfully the embarrassing moment passed and the girl rushed off before Garnet had a chance to say more than a simple thank you.

Steven sprawled out as soon as he was placed on the bed, throwing his head back and arching his back, perfectly content exposing his belly despite his new environment. She sat on the edge of the bed, just staring at him. Red spots had formed on the tip of his nose and his shoulders where sun screen had washed off in the stream, the beginning of a burn ran the length of his shoulders and the section of chest she could see. She removed his shoes, leaving them by the door to dry before getting ready for bed herself.

Half way through brushing her teeth knocking reached her ears. She paused mid brush, listening intently; bracing her arms on the counter, tooth brush hanging limply from her mouth. Hopefully it's just one of the neighbours horsing around; she knew she was out of luck when the soft rapping of knuckles on wood persisted. Her shoulder slumped in resignation.

*Bang Bang Bang* Spitting out the remaining tooth paste and squaring her shoulders, Garnet pulled herself together and stood tall; whoever was out there wasn't leaving.

"Coming," grumbled out between tight lips. She was in no mood to deal with anything but sleep. She contemplated just going to bed and covering her head with a pillow but stomped her way to the door. She peered through the peep hole, seeing a large eye staring back at her through the little piece of glass. *Bang* hear ears rattle with how close she was to the knock.

"Hold on already." She threw the door open. Her scowl slipping away as quickly as it had formed. Her chest constricted tightly, pushing the air out of her lungs and causing her heart to have to work harder under the pressure "Pearl," she wheezed out, tongue going languid and dry. She was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her; any moment she would wake up back in the woods. God knew she was exhausted, but not to the extent of hallucinations.

She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the haunting visage to be gone when they opened again. "Garnet!" Shivers weakened her knees as that sweet voice reached her ears. Pearl is still there when she opens her eyes, smiling at her with a proud, slightly cocky demeanour as if nothing had happened, her eyes big and sparkling in the dim lights. The gem all but threw herself at the human, wrapping her up in long willowy arms and nuzzling into her collar bone, her nose running up the flesh of Garnet's neck. Garnet buried her face into soft strands of pink hair, taking a deep breath and breathing her in. God how she had missed that smell; It was like a glass of ice water on a hot day to her senses.

 

An incredible impulse just to be close danced over Garnet's nerves; every inch of contact with the gem had her skin singing. Pearl took the entirety of Garnet's weight when the human gave up on holding herself up, lying her entire body against Pearl; completely boneless in the other women's arms. She was even tempted to bring her less up and wrap them around the thin hips just to get closer.

"How?" The gem shook her head, cooing softly against the human's shoulder. She had no way for her to explain what happened, there was no words in the English vernacular she was aware of that would equate. Regeneration didn't seem to be something humans did if Garnet's reaction was anything to go by. She never seen Garnet this visibly upset; tears hit the top of her head as the human openly cried. She looped her arms under Garnet's leg and hoisted the despondent human up off her feet.

 _"It's ok."_ So soothed, slipping into her native tongue, forgetting for a moment the human didn't understand but hoping she would pick up on the meaning none the less. Nails dug into her back as Garnet trembled in her arms; her body shook as she sobbed.

"Yo-you-you-you." She stutters; hiccupping with every deep breath she tries to suck in. She hates when she stutter, every moment she couldn't control was like a life time. She hadn't had an issue with it since she was a child. "Le-left."

Left? That's just a direction and made no sense in this situation; was she asking me to walk in that direction? "I don't want to leave." Perhaps the word had another meaning, because she wasn't ready to let the human go and the way Garnet clung to her suggested she didn't want that either. She had lacked the ability to touch for too long to give it up on the pleasant contact. Perhaps she was tired; if Peal's experience with humans taught her anything they become enjoy long periods of inactiveness during the night.

Pearl carried the human inside the room, taking the women to the unoccupied bed. The human refused to release the gem and pulled Pearl with her to the bed. It took some manoeuvring but it was well worth it for them as they wound up wrapped up together under the covers. Garnet pulled her head out of the gem's hair to look her in the eyes, one hand going up to brush the feathery bangs away from the stone on Pearl's fore head. The hair-do was new as where her clothes, but that didn't matter, every inch of this girl from her head to her toes just screamed Pearl to her senses. She ran her thumb over the gem's surface, taking in the hum of power that sent pleasant sparks up the digit. Pearl closed her eyes and leaned into the contact with a purr, unintentionally calming Garnet.

"Where were you?" The words came out easier now that she could finally breathe; her tears had slowed down to a sniffle.

"I with you."

"I know you are now, but Pearl." The name was spoken as a plea, a plea for understanding. Their legs tangled together, both needing the contract. "You just vanished into smoke. You where hurt real bad, how are you just.." Pearl opened one eye and raised a singular eyebrow at the human like it was the silliest question she ever heard, her purring never hitching or wavering. She signed; lower her head to Pearl's chest.

"I don't understand." And she didn't like it one bit. A hand ran over her back and for a moment Garnet wished she had changed out of her day clothes. The gem rolled into her back, bringing the human with her with her. The lack of heart beat in her ear was odd and highly noticeable with her ear pressed to the gem's chest, the low rumble emitting from deep in her chest as she purred helped ease the uneasy feeling.

 _"I never left you."_ She chirped in her own tongue, finding it much easier to organize her thoughts when she wasn't constantly searching for the right words or having to shift her vocal cords. Garnet tilted her head to look her in the eyes and she could pretend that no barrier existed between them, that langue wasn't an inconvenience. She could always show her a hologram but without explanation the picture would mean nothing so she talked on.

 _"When I released my physical form I also lose the ability to interact with my surrounding; I can't see, but I knew when you where close. I can still pick up on the energy you give off."_ the human nodded along, her eyes slowly drooping. _"Of course it's weaker than a gem's, none the less it was comforting to feeling."_

"Hmmm." Garnet fought to keep her eyes open; the gem's hand trailing over her back was winning out. The gem kept talking, sounding more like a song bird rather than anything Garnet could recognize; she tried to pick out individual sounds that kept being repeated, trying to piece the sounds into words.

 _"Sometimes I wonder if anyone on HomeWorld knows where I am; I'd like to think someone misses me."_ Her hand rubbed the skin at Garnet's neck, Pearl smiled at the content grumble the human emitted. "Earth was a place a read about in old reports, but any information I could find on the planet was sparse and heavily redacted." Garnet closed her eyes, still listening. _"Curiosity should have gotten me in trouble millennia ago, if my Diamond didn't by some miracle find it endearing even sooner."_

 

Garnet hummed and nodded sleepily, encouraging Pearl to continue. "If I understand you work as well as I think I do, you would probably not be happy to know the ship I used to get here was stolen." She poked Garnet's nose with her finger, getting little more than a single eye opening about half way and a yawn.

"It was just a decommissioned scouting vessel destined for recycling and I planning on returning it." She doesn't know why she felt the need to defend her actions, the human didn't understand her confession and even if she did, so what; it was highly unlikely Garnet had any jurisdiction over it. "Guest I now know why the piece of junk was going for scrap." She gave a low chuckle at her own foolishness. The human on top of her snored, her mouth hung open as she slept, a trail of drool leaking out the corner. A pang of familiarity shot through her, bringing a wave of nostalgia in its wake. She caressed the human’s cheek.

 _"You look an awful lot one of my friends when you sleep._ " She reminisced, thinking of the little Amethyst that loves to sleep, they looked remarkably similar while sleeping; curled up, drooling and making all sorts of sounds. Despite the disgusting spittle collecting on her clothes, Pearl felt no real need to move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pearl getting confused with english when she regenerated maybe a little poorly explained; she acctually had to shift her vocal cords to make the sounds needed. When she relises Garnet and Steven are not around she freaks and forgets to change her vocal cords and tries to compensate my making the closest sound she can, in this case hissing for S as she tries to say Steven amd growling for G as she tries to say Garnet.
> 
> Garnet I made a little more openly needy and open because unlike the show shes' not constasntly the one who has to be a leader, she takes Pearl poofing harder than Steven simply because she is older and has seen death head on in the case of Rose, yes Steven lost her to and misses her but his idea of death is less final than hers and is shaped more by fantasy noval and TV shows.


	20. Chapter 20

“Pearl!!!”

       Garnet awoke with sharp awareness, or at least as sharp of the knee that was shoved in her bladder as her son literally stepped over her to get to the gem. Oh, the betrayal! She mused melodramatically in her half awake state. Oh, her bladder. Jumping from the bed, she made it to the bathroom in a single bound, leaving her bewildered bed mate to deal with an armful of Steven. Pearl watched as the bathroom door slammed shut. She hadn’t known humans could move so quickly. Her attention turned to the young boy who had his short arms wrapped around her waist and his faced pressed tight into her belly with so much force he couldn’t possibly be able to breathe very well. A damp spot formed on the under Steven face.

 

“Steven?” She probed gently, running her fingers through his thick hair. A reply was mumbled into belly, more of a sniffle that was too muffled for her to ever hope to interpret than words. Little arms tightened into what would have been a death grip if she had been flesh and bones.

 

Was Steven happy to see her? Sad? Or perhaps even Angry? She had no way of knowing and she couldn’t even see his face for a clue, though that was following the presumption that humans displayed emotions the same way as gems. Not for the first time she wished humans came with an easy to read sign that displayed their moods.

 

“Hello, Steven.” The body in her arms trembled.

 

“Why?” She fretted, holding the tiny body in her arms as tightly as she dared. Ever careful of his oh so fragile organic form.

 

Humans usually reply positively to hello. What else could she do; what else do humans like? Food, they always seemed to be putting food in their mouth but she doesn’t have anything the boy could ingest. She supposed they liked to sleep, leading Garnet to bed worked for the older human but they are already in a bed, so that was a no go. Chirping in frustration she flitted through her admittedly limited English she knew, searching for the magic combination of sounds that would get her a positive reaction.

 

“Please,” she tried, to no avail.

 

Her right hand left his curly hair to rub small circles on his shoulder blades. She cycled through every word she could think of, even taking a risk on a few she had yet to completely grasp the meaning of.

 

Her persistence paid off when by around her 20th attempt Steven loosened his grip and wiggled up to sit in her lap. He rested his head on her shoulder, using the lapels of her jacket to hide his face. Pearl rested her chin in her hair; relaxing into the hold. She kept on naming random words, everything she could recall in no particular order. Some words got a giggle out of Steven, which got her purring and nuzzling into his hair, her words coming out more disjointed as random sounds over words.

 

“Cra-” a finger gabbed into her cheek half way through her 67th word. “I knew you’d be back.” Steven’s voice was strong; his eyes sparkled as he caught her gaze, his face red from crying even as a huge smile spread across his cheeks. Pearl pulled him closer, wrapping herself around him like a blanket.

 

“I’m.” She agreed.

 

Steven melted, letting the low thrumming emanating from the gems chest wash over him, just as reassuring as a heartbeat.

 

Neither of them noticed Garnet watching them from across the room, too wrapped up in the warmth of their own reunion. She leaned against the wall, a small affectionate smile painted on her lips.  
If she had her camera on her she would have captured this moment for ever and frame it prominently above the fire place. Hell, she would have made it into a Christmas card and send it to her whole family, even if that was a short list. For now she just enjoyed watching two of her favourite people interact. Their expressions spoke a wordless story of genuine affection and their body language was nothing short of total trust. How quickly the strange women fit into their world should have been shocking, but now it was like she was always meant to be here, with them. Warmth bloomed in her chest at the thought. She took a minute to burn this moment into her mind before she found herself joining them.

 

The end of the bed dips, as Garnet sits by Pearl’s feet. Her purr hitched, just for the scantest of moments when she met Garnet's uncovered eyes over Steven’s head. She had seen Garnet’s eyes before, naturally striking with their vastly different colouration from left to right but never like this, never when they where sparkling along with her smile, little wrinkles forming in the corner; such open expressiveness and completely bare. Why she would ever cover anything so entrancing?

 

Pearl opened one arm and shimmed, making room for Garnet, requesting the human to join in with a soft smile. Garnet allowed herself to fall into the gem.

 

 

* * *

 

 

This Place was strange.

 

The ground was green and fuzzy to the touch, squishing between her toes and lightly tickling her skin; she just couldn't resist burying her face in it to take in the smell and rolling around. Upon standing she found the green stuff had rubbed of on her, leaving big green streaks all over her form and clumps of dirt in her hair.

 

She must look like one of those kindergarten nerds back home! She grinned like mad.

 

It was a shame her Diamond didn't see fit to send any other amethyst' with her. They would have just loved this place; rough, dirty, full of all sorts of wonderful smell and just felt right. Amethyst felt comfortable here; much more comfortable then she did on the clean, sterile surface of HomeWorld. She could easily spend a century on this rock and still would want a 100 centuries more. She picked up a strand of the green stuff and put it in her mouth, idly taking in the flavour. This planet felt familiar.

 

But she had a mission.

 

'Find, My Pearl.' She remembers Pink Diamond’s voice, strong and sure while giving orders, the complete lack of emotion in the usually upbeat ruler giving away her worry for her loyal pearl.

 

'I hope you understand this is a matter of utmost discretion.' Amethyst wasn’t sure what that meant, was no one suppose to know where she was or that she wasn’t here in any official capacity. She tried to ask but the look in Pink Diamond's eyes kept her mouth shut. Having all of her Diamond’s attention on her was disconcerting. Her chambers were oddly barren without any nobles lounging around on Pink’s collection of fine fabrics and pillows, gossiping the day away and hanging off their Diamond or imposing agates standing guard.

 

Amethyst flopped back against the ground, enjoying the soft breeze and the chattering of little creatures. She pushed the Diamond out of her mind. Small winged creatures flew over head, some of the smaller ones fluttered around her head.

 

"No wonder, P hasn't come home yet. A gem could get use to a place like this," she sighed.

 

Something moved out of the corner of her eyes, something big; much larger than any of the creatures she had come across so far. She locked eyes with the beast, both she and it studying each other in interest. It was tan in colour from head to toes with black ran from its eyes down its cheeks in tracks and on the tips of its rounded ears. It had a tail as long as it body brushed along the ground. Whiskers twitches on its face as it sniffed the air, the tips of it tail curled lazily. It moved towards the gem, its head held low; muscles ripping under fur, ever stride screaming danger.

 

It was bigger than her, but so what! Most things where bigger then her and that never stopped her from kicking ass. They were soon face to face, giving the gem an excellent view of its shiny elongated canines. Her own teeth glowed as she shifted to imitate and stuck her tongue out. The creature huffed, pressing its nose to hers with enough force to push the gem onto her back before turning and bounding away.

 

She grinned, watching the creature disappear.

 

In a flash of light the gem had shed her default form in favour of four legs and fur. Nails dug into the soft ground as she stretched, feeling ever muscle and joint in her new form.

 

She would find, Pearl, but there was no need to rush. The Pearl Amethyst knew was a smart resourceful gem, she could take care of herself. There was no reason Amethyst couldn't enjoy herself while she searched. She ran, liking how fast she felt on four legs and the feeling of ground under her feet, it just felt right.

 

She bolted in the direction the creature disappeared, running as fast as this body could take her, flattening her ears as if they could slow her down. With each bound she picked up more speed, faster and harder until she was just a blur. The wind whipped through her fur.

 

Green and brown streaked by until her feet hit something more solid and grey; big creatures made of metal and glass raced around her. They honked as Amethyst left them in her dust. Even smaller possibly parasitic creatures lived inside of the metal ones. They stared and pointed as her, looking surprisingly gem like with their hairy heads and arms, though she couldn’t tell if they had legs.

 

It wasn’t long until she grew bored with the race and got distracted. She slowed to a stop, much to the annoyance of her racing partners, they honked and flashed at her; most wound up going around her, not that she cared. They could play later but right now a big body of water glittered not too far away had her interest now.

 

She had seen the stuff from orbit but not yet up close, it was a deep, for boarding blue from space, but up close it looked completely different. Light sparkled and shimmered over the large body of water as the surface raised and fell in gentle swells. Sure they had the stuff back home but none for public access. It was far too precious in manufacturing for most gems to even get to see it in person. She moved towards the liquid like in a trance. Ditching the metal beasts she headed towards the large ocean. She was going to find out if water would turn her blue like that green fuzzy stuff made her green.

 

* * *

 

 

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Universe." Connie eagerly jumped out of the van just before it pulled to a stop outside the small police station. Raising her arms as high as she could and arching her back in the biggest stretch she could muster.

 

"It's no problem, Connie." Greg imitated young girl's movement, getting a giggle out of her as his attempted ended in rather audible pop and crack. “Oww. You know my body never use to make this much noise.” He rubbed his lower back. Connie practically skipped as she headed for the doors, as if the bubbling excitement that had recently taken home in her belly practically lifting her off the ground.

 

Working with Officer Ruby had been interesting, but now without having to worry about Steven, Garnet or Pearl she found herself enjoy it thoroughly. You could learn quite a lot about people by some of the more petty things they got calls about. Sure she mostly filed paper work, but Ruby had gotten her a pair of mirrored shades of her very own. Even her Parents, after a brief conversation with Mrs. Sapphire seemed to be happy about the arrangement. She had no idea how Sapphire did it but hopefully she could learn.

 

"You have a way home?" Greg asked.

 

"Of course I do. Mrs Sapphire and Officer Ruby have been driving me home and if they aren't able to I have change for the bus."

 

"Good. Just remember you can call m-," the rest of his speech was interrupted by a defining shout of, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!” The holler shook the glass of the small building, each word clear as if the argument was outside in the parking lot and not coming from the inside of the building. “I CAN'T KICK DOWN EVERY DOOR IN TOWN AND DEMAND TO GO THROUGH THEIR STUFF WITHOUT A WARRENT!!"

 

"Oh, boy." Greg grumbled under his breath. He recognized that voice any where and what ever could work Ruby up to the point of screaming definitely wouldn't be something he wanted to get a kid involved in.

 

"I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT! FINDING THOSE PUNKS WHO STOLE OUR RESEARCH IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY!" An even deeper voice responds, the gruff bass rattled their bones.

 

"Come on kid," Greg put a fatherly hand on her shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze and a week smile. "Let’s go to the board walk and get some ice cream." Greg tried to temp the girl away from what sounded like a bad situation, but Connie refused to budge.

 

"Or french fries, you like fries right?" He tried again, his voice cracking.

 

"BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE DON'T HAVE UNQUESTIONABLE POWER. I CAN'T JUST TREAT EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN TOWN LIKE CRIMINALS!" Clenching her jaw, Connie straightened her back. A hard look crossed her face as she strode with purpose. Ignoring Greg's frantic cries or “Everyone likes fries!”, she reached to open the front door only to have it slammed back into her as someone stormed out; knocking her to the ground.

 

“Ah!” A jolt of pain shot through her as her tail bone met pavement. She screwed her eye shut and bit back on the instinctual need to cry. A tremor worked through her as she bit down on a sob.

 

“Hey,” a gruff voice questioned. “You ok kid?”

 

“Ya-” Air caught in her throat, refusing to enter her lung. Tightness coiled around her chest.

 

“Here.” Two large hands reached for Connie’s, their touch surprisingly gentle for how large and calloused they felt. The world spun as she was pulled to her feet one of the hands tested on her shoulder, keeping her steady as the adjusted. The change position loosened the knot around her chest, allowing precious air to enter her lung.

 

Connie smiled up, at the stranger, only for the expression to falter as she met eyes with Jasper’s concerned face. The large women was knelling, bring her down her level, with little regard to the dirt getting on her pants. Even on her knees she had more than a foot on Connie.

 

“You should watch where you’re going.” Jasper grumbled, pulling her hand away.

 

“Uh,” she started, not quite sure what to say. She had no idea what to expect out this women. She shifted on her feet uncomfortably, looking anywhere but the woman’s eyes as if the agent could look right through her. If Jasper knew what she had done, she didn’t want to know what could happen. She had her tales of government cover up and people disappearing.

 

“Hello, Connie.” Sapphire’s familiar voice drifted from behind Jasper, though soft and gentles it just like steel through the pregnant silence.

 

A deep scowl engraved itself on Jaspers face. The agent stood stiffly and polite nod to Connie before turning to face the older women. Sapphire’s austere face brightened into a warm smile for the girl.

 

“Sophie.” A fake smile full of sharp teeth erased any remains of concern that had been on the women’s face.

 

“Hey, Mrs Sapphire.” Connie edged around the agent women, making her way over to hug the small women’s tense form with more force then she normally would.

 

“I Hope you don’t mind helping me at the house today.” She patted Connie’s arm, all the while keeping her stare locked on Jasper’s. She made no move to correct her.

 

“No, it’s not a problem but what about Ruby?” Connie wisped the last part of the sentence. She peeked out from Sapphires bluish white hair, to see the agent back as she stomped away.

 

“She’ll be fine. Besides,” she assured her previously bright smile now brittle. “I’m going to show you a little game called ‘Destroying the evidence.’”

 

“Ah, jeez.” Greg muttered just loud enough for the Connie and Sapphire to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Amethyst is now on earth. Did you honestly think someone wouldn’t come looking for her? Honestly at first I was going to have Amethyst join a pack of dog and have her just get really distracted but then I was like no, she was going to turn into a literal purple puma and have her confused that a big cat wasn’t the same thing as small dogs and cats. The whole organic thing is new to her; she’s learning.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder. When a gem speaks using italics, they are speaking in their native language.

               

* * *

 

 

    Riding in the bed of a pickup truck was not an experience, Pearl would call fun; every little bump sent them flying even the smallest of turn threatened to throw them over the side. Plenty of blankets and pillows thrown into the back of the truck cushioned the ride slightly, but none of that mattered when the teenagers behind the wheel drove like maniacs!

 

"Wooohoooo!" Steven cheers as they take a turn at high speed. Garnet grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from flying off, her other arm wrapped snugly around Pearl's waist like a seat belt, securing the gem to her lap.

"Again!" The teen boy in the cab cried, egging his sister on.

"Yeah!" Steven encouraged.

“You asked for it.” The driver slammed her foot down on the gas and jerked the steering wheel to the right, sending the truck skidding through a puddle of mud, coating the truck, and the passengers in a thick layer of dirt.

This would be how she died, she was sure of it. She had survived in a crashed space ship, without a scratch. Just to be taken out by two kids on a gravel road.

"Why?" The gem questioned, sounding rather pitiful. With the back of her hand she wiped at her face in a vain attempt to clean off the mud. Surly there had to be a cleaner mode of transportation.

"I'm sorry," Garnet pressed her lips to peach hair. "You don't have a passport, so we can't fly and walking to the border would take days." Though days of walking was steadily sounding more appealing. Pearl still didn't understand the importance of a piece of paper with your name and picture on it. She looked longingly up to the sky. It was a shame; planes looked like they would be fun.

The truck lurched as it hit a particularly large hole, sending Steven tumbling into a pile of pillows.

Steven popped out of the mountain of cushions with a wide bright eyed smile. "Can we do this when we get home?"

"No." both Garnet and Pearl answered simultaneously.

"Awwww." Steven tried to stand once more; this time it was Pearl who grabbed him.

"Sit please."

Steven opened his mouth to protest but a cry of 'Hang on!' from the teens shut him up. The truck picked up speed.

Pearl wrapped her arm around Steven, keeping him securely tucked to her side, her other arm clutching Garnet for dear life. The truck crested over a small hill, taking to the sky. Mud flew off the tires, decorating the sky like cheep fireworks.

"Yeeee-hawwwwww!" The teens cried at the top of their lungs.

Pearl just knew this was the end.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Amethyst lounged in the shallows, enjoying the cool water on her belly and the warm sun beating at her back. The low waves barely high enough to lick at her chin. She lazily kneaded the sand, digging herself a cozy little nest. She could just lie here forever; at one with the waters, her mind floating unmoored.

"Mommy it's a kitty!"

"Get away from that filthy thing, Aiden!"

Though, she could really do without the pests.

"We should scare it away."

“It doesn’t seem to care about us, how the hell would we scare it off?”

She had no idea what these creatures were, other than the fact they looked a lot like a gem. They had the correct basic upright form, standing on two legs and have hands for manipulating their environment. No one individual in the crowed was the same as another; their sizes ranged from as large as a quartz to as small as a ruby, their clothing came in a large array of colour compared to the usual monotonous pallets that most gems stuck to. On the surface they looked a lot like gems, but something about them just seemed so different to Amethyst, something she couldn’t put a name to.

 

"Should we call the police or animal control?"

"Screw that. I say we get the military. I saw that thing doing at least 100m/h on the high way."

"It looks like its sick."

Huffing, Amethyst dipped her head under the waves, blocking out the nattering the best she could.

Don’t these things have something to do other spend all their time buzzing around her!

Why couldn't they just enjoy the water like her and calm down?

"Get a picture, Harold."

A large flock of the faux gems congregated on the sand, staring and pointing. Small furry four legged creatures ran around the crowed, barking up a storm and weaving between the bipedal beings legs. One of the little furry creatures broke away and ran towards her, tail wagging only to be grabbed and pulled back. Amethyst flicked her tail, splashing towards the crowd.

"Mountain lions aren't even supposed to be on the east coast."

"Cool."

"Dare, me to touch it?"

“It doesn’t look so tough.”

"Mommy! I want to pet the kitty!" One screeched.

That was enough.  
Amethyst got to her feet, glowering at the flock.

" _Don't you have something better to do?_ " She spoke in a deep growl, spittle flying as she hissed through her teeth. This was apparently not the thing to do, because as soon as they saw her long sharp fang people start to scream.

"IT'S RABID!" Amethyst flattened her ears, winced at the shrill tone.

"Get out of the water!"

People hastily ran, leaving most of their goods behind in the ensuing stampede. Some of the creatures pushed each other over in panic, stepping over one another in the frantic rush. A few literally crawled on their hands and knees.

"Get in the car!"

"Where are my keys?!"

"Helen!"

"The car!"

 

"Oh god. My KEYS!"

In less than 5 minutes the beach was clear of all but Amethyst, a singular gem like creature and a bunch of junk abandoned by the flock. Amethyst flopped back down, keeping one wary eye on the remaining creature. The fake gem (she really needed a better name) sat on a fold out chair, not really doing too much. Her hand moved a stick along a pad of some kind, but that was about it. She had short blonde hair and wore a type of pants that went up to her chest and fastened over her shoulders.

"I guess they don't know how to deal with a little bit of pussy." The blonde chuckled to herself. A sound Amethyst decided was much more pleasant than the high pitch shrieks the others made.

Amethyst rested her chin on the back of her arm and closed her eyes.

“ _What the hell was their problem?_ ” she mused. The creature didn’t respond; not that Amethyst expected her to. She just continued fiddling away with her stick thing, unconcerned with her surroundings.

"Shit. Why didn't I bring my colour pencils? Grey really doesn't do you justice." She put down her stick and pulled out a black rectangle from her pocket, holding it up to her eye.

"Say 'cheese' gorgeous." Amethyst opened one eye, regarding the girl for a moment then rolling onto her back.

"There," she exclaimed proudly, smug smile endorsing her face in small wrinkles. "Now I can colour you in later. Just don’t tell anyone I cheated." She winked, tucking the rectangle back in her pocket and picked up her stick again. The gem watched as the blond held the instrument out as far as her arm could reach closing one eye and tilting her head. What was this thing doing?

The beach was quite with just the two of them. The blonde bobbed her feet as she worked; her stick scratching lightly as she dragged it across her pad. Amethyst closed her eyes, letting the sounds of earth lull her.

The moment didn’t last long, the blonde muttering and banging as she started to dig through bags. Amethyst looked in mild curiosity, barely bothering to open a singular eye. The first bag the women went through was discarded without a care, hocked over her shoulder, before grabbing a dark green one to her left. That bag was also chucked to the side, apparently even less interesting then the first, if the blonde’s grimace was anything to go by. The third bag met the game fate as the last two but on the forth bag a smile spread across her face, a look full of glee and mischief all too familiar to the gem. Perhaps this particular one was more gem like then Amethyst had originally gave her credit for.

"Want something to eat?" The gem perked up in interest. The creature smiles at her as she waved a small triangular package she had pulled from the bag in Amethyst’s direction. She threw the rectangle with all her might, landing the object within a foot of the gem. Curious, Amethyst trotted over giving the triangle a sniff, the smell was something she couldn't quite put a name to, but danm if it wasn’t enticing. Looking towards the creature for some explanation, she saw the woman rip the wrapping off her own triangle and take a bite. Getting the idea Amethyst bit in, not bothering to remove the wrapping.

It was like an explosion in her mouth! Hastily she took the rest of it in one gulp, her tongue practically singing at the sensation. She purred as another triangle was thrown at her, pouncing on the packet before it could hit the ground, tearing in with ravenous intent. The creature laughed, momentarily forgetting to eat her own share.

"This 'is' some really good ham and cheese." She dug through a pink and beige tote, pulling out a box. The box seemed rather plain and nowhere as interesting as the tasty triangles had been, but Amethyst patted closer curiously. The blonde took a small plastic tube of the front of the rectangle and stabbed it in the top. She put the tube to her mouth, moaning in delight.

"Hell, they even got the good apple juice. I should probably leave a thank you note for the family that left behind such awesome food." The women was completely relaxed with Amethyst sitting in front of her, going as far to pet the gem's head. Amethyst pressed into the touch, kicking her foot when her nails hit just the perfect spot behind her ears.

"Here." She placed another triangle on the ground, smiling gentle as the gem curled up by her feet and started to eat. Amethyst took her time with this one, savouring every last bite.

Amethyst was half way done eating when a police cruiser pulled up with its lights flashing. Another gem like creature hoped out, darker and smaller than the blonde with tasty treats. The small one had yet to start screeching like the flock, so Amethyst relaxed.

"Vidalia?" The small one called out, keeping a healthy distance between her and the giant cat. "What is that?"

"Hey, Rubes." Vidalia smiled at her friend, waving her to come over. She gestured vaguely towards the plethora of abandoned property littering he beach. "Take a seat, there's only about 100 of them."

"No, seriously. Why is there a freaking jungle cat at your feet?" Ruby rubbed her temples; she was much too tired for this.

"Isn’t she awesome? I'm gonna calling her Gorgeous." Vidalia casually scratched Amethyst’s head.

“What? No!”

“You don’t like the name?” She took on a mock tone of hurt.

"No! Don't name it."

"I guess it’s a little rude to just name something without asking; she might alreadt have one."

"We can't have this thing getting comfortable and hanging around town. It will chase away tourist."

"Come now, she's harmless." She lifted the big cats head, scratching under its chin and around the ruff of her neck. "See?"

"It's a wild animal, and not a healthy one by the looks of it."

Amethyst flicked her tail, slamming it against the sand.

"Oh please,” she rolled her eyes, “Just give her a pat and she'll warm right up to you."

"I'm not touching that thing!" her usually gruff voice squeaking as she rose her voice.

The gem bristled in annoyance; she had just starting to like these creatures, but of course they just had to get loud again.

"Touch the pussy cat."

"A skin parasite probably caused that discolouration."

"Come on Rubes, pet the pussy. I know you know how."

"No."

"No, you don’t know how? That’s not what Sapphire told me."

"That’s not wha-" Amethyst pressed her face into Ruby's hand, hoping to shut them up.  
The officer’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and Vidalia half expected her to bolt like the tourist did. The diminutive women was made of tougher stuff then that and after a few tense heart beats she ran her fingered through the purple coat, marvelling at the silky texture.

"She's so soft." She whispered, barely above a breath. Her eyes sparkled in wonder.

"I know right?"

Ruby grabbed a nearby beach chair and settled down with her friend. Vidalia reached into the tote bag again, pulling out a couple of beer cans.

"Did you get a new bag?" Ruby asked, eyeing the big pink flamingo on the side of the bag.

"No." She snorted, tossing the can to the cop.

Ruby was about to say something, she really was. Instead she just sighed and popped the can.

“You know,” Vidalia mused, taking a swig of her warm beer, grimacing at the taste. “Having a big cat at your feet really does make me feel like a total bad ass.”

“You look ridicules.” Ruby snorted, tipping slowly at her own can.

“But I FEEL like a queen.”

“In those pants?”

“Hey! My overalls will be the next big thing.”

“Along with the paint spotches?”

“Of course, the paint is what makes them cool. We should get you a pair, than we can both be queens in our paint covered overalls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vidalia has lived in Beach city way too long to be frightened of an over grown purple house cat.

**Author's Note:**

> In this gems never came to earth. Pearl is even more a fish out of water then she is on the show.


End file.
